New Delhi: The Special Cell of Delhi Police Tuesday arrested four men, who procured data from several life insurance companies to dupe policyholders by forging documents to pose as government officials, said police.
“The gang was preparing/using forged documents of Ministry of Finance bearing signature of Hon’ble Finance Minister Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman, Sh. S.M.N Swamy, Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India, IRDA (Bima Lokpal) and various Life Insurance Companies,” stated the Delhi Police’s Special Cell press release
All of the suspects — Mehtab Alam (33), Sartaj Khan (31), Mohd Junaid (29) and Deen Mohd (27) — have prior experience working in insurance companies, the police said. Alam, the alleged kingpin of the syndicate, has previously worked for a company which deals in websites and email registration.
As per the police — who have unearthed a data sheet of approximately 3,000 potential victims — the four men would work as calling agents and used to interact with the customers directly.
The fraudsters also used to send forged documents and cheques by post to the victims in order to induce them. By doing so, they would demand various charges from the victims for processing, fund releasing and a fee for a No Objection Certificate.
“Upon getting the cheques, the gullible victims used to transfer the amount into the accounts provided by accused persons and then the accused would withdraw the cheated amount from different locations in Delhi,” police added.
The Ministry of Finance alerted the police about the case after a man, who received a forged letter with Sitharaman’s signature, was duped for Rs 1,27,000.
“A reference from Ministry of Finance/Government of India regarding financial fraud, impersonation and using forged documents in the name of Ministry of Finance was received at the office of Commissioner of Police, Delhi,” the release added.
In his complaint, the victim said he was called by a person named Chaman Lal and was told that some amount was sanctioned against his “lapsed insurance policy”. After which he was asked to pay Rs 44,000 as processing charges, Rs 27,000 as NOC charges and another Rs 52,000 as the final fund release charges.
After cyber-trailing the suspects, the special cell team found their locations, conducted raids and retrieved seven mobile phones, one laptop used to forge documents, data sheets of policy details of various customers, an ATM card and some email conversations with the victims.
A case under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been lodged by the police.
Further investigation is underway to find the other accused in the case.
