New Delhi: The Punjab Police is set to file a criminal case related to cyber fraud allegations flagged by a retired Inspector General-rank officer, who allegedly shot himself Monday in an attempted suicide bid in Patiala.
Amar Singh Chahal was rushed to a hospital, where doctors operated on him, sources in Punjab Police said, adding that he was out of danger. A team of Patiala Police recovered a detailed suicide note purportedly addressed to Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav, with details on the allegations of fraud to the tune of Rs 8.10 crore.
“The allegations are being examined, and we are looking into how to approach the investigation. A call on who will be the complainant among the family members or the police staff based on the content of the note is being taken,” a police officer told ThePrint.
Chahal, the sources said, had left all the documents and the transaction trail on his mobile phone and in his home diary before using a weapon belonging to one of his personal security officers.
A former Indian Air Force (IAF) officer, Chahal joined the Punjab Police as a Deputy Superintendent of Police in 1990 and held several key positions, including as Amritsar Police Commissioner in 2016, before his name featured in the charge sheet of the Special Investigating Team (SIT) formed by the Congress government in 2018 to probe the firing on protesters in Faridkot.
Two people were killed in the October 2015 police firing on a group protesting incidents of sacrilege at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan.
The SIT had named Chahal, former DGP Sumedh Singh Saini, then CM late Parkash Singh Badal and the then deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal in a case related to the police firing.
Chahal has been out on bail from the Punjab and Haryana High Court since April 2023. Hailing from Matti village in Mansa district, he settled in Patiala district after retirement three years ago.
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‘Systemic fraud’
In the 12-page note he wrote before shooting himself at his residence, Chahal mentioned his ordeal on how he was trapped by a WhatsApp account impersonating to be ‘Rajat Verma’, the managing director of DBS Bank.
Overall, he invested Rs 8.10-plus crore in plans disguised as investments, promoted through a community, ‘F.777 DBS Wealth Equity Research Group’, purportedly run by the scammer.
He recalled the entire sequence of events beginning 28 October, when he started getting tips on capital markets, including an explanation of factors affecting the stock market. He was added to a WhatsApp community where participants could ask questions about the concepts the impersonator was explaining.
“They also said that the first phase will last 40 days for retail investors and Dr Rajat Verma will let the members trade. It was actually a ploy to show some sort of genuineness,” Chahal wrote.
Nearly a week later, the retired officer said, retail investors in the community were allowed to trade stocks. Slowly, people started pumping more money and the fraudsters maintained a dashboard showing headings such as daily trade stock, OTC stock, IPS, and quantitative funds.
The fraudsters, he alleged, then introduced and offered investment opportunities in IPOs scheduled for immediate release. The portal’s internal mechanism was configured to allow investors to take more shares as deposits increased, while the group claimed offering shares at a significantly discounted price.
Chahal had a confrontation with ‘Verma’ over deep discounts in IPOs, arguing that even anchor investors—mostly generally institutional investors—do not get the price they are offered before the IPO opens for subscription. In response, ‘Verma’ said that for large institutional investors such as DBS Bank, prices were always negotiable.
At this point, he became suspicious that someone was impersonating Verma and went on to alert some members of the group.
When he tried to withdraw Rs 5 crore, the retired officer said, he was asked to deposit 1.5 per cent of the principal and 3 per cent tax on profits, which came to Rs 2.25 crore. Chahal said that he borrowed from friends and deposited.
The demands kept coming, Chahal alleged, adding that he was then asked to deposit Rs 20 lakh for a premium membership and was later coerced into paying a Rs 10 lakh bribe to expedite the withdrawal of his invested amount.
(If you are feeling suicidal or depressed, please call a helpline number in your state)
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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