3 ACCUSED INCLUDING KING PIN HELD FOR CHEATING OF RS.16 LAC.

• CHEATED THE VICTIM OF HIS OLD CURRENCY NOTES OF RS. 1000/- AND RS.500/- AFTER DEMONETIZATION.
• 5 MOBILE PHONES HAVING 5 SIMS OF ACCUSED USED IN THE COMMISSION OF CRIME RECOVERED.
• JACKET OF ACCUSED AND BAG OF VICTIM CAPTURED IN CCTV FOOTAGE DURING CRIME RECOVERED.
• INCIDENT CAPTURED IN CCTV FOOTAGE.

In a major breakthrough, Crime Branch has busted an interstate gang of cheaters and arrested 3 accused persons and worked out a cheating case.  From their possession, 5 mobiles phones having 5 SIMs used in the crime, jacket of accused and bag of victim captured in CCTV footage of IDBI Bank has been recovered. The names and the addresses of the accused are as under: -

1. Harkesh Sharma @ Shukla (30 yrs) s/o Subhash Chander r/o H. No. E-522, Gali No. 79, Mahavir Enclave-III, Delhi.  ,
2. Rajesh Kumar (36 yrs) s/o Mohan Ram r/o H.No. 7, Gali No. 19, A-2 Block, Sant Nagar Burari, Delhi.
3. Ram Lakhan (42 yrs) s/o Paras Chauhan r/o H.No. 988-A, UG-1, Gali No.16, Sadh Nagar-II, Palam, Delhi.

INCIDENT: -        

On 14.11.16, Sh. Hitender Doshi r/o Kolkata filed a complaint in Crime Branch. In his complaint, Sh. Hitender Doshi alleged that he came to Delhi on 07.11.16 and collected cash Rs.16 lac rupees (Old currency notes of Rs. 500 and 1000) from his business relationship. On 11.11.16, his known friend Shakti Gupta convinced and induced him to deposit this amount in Shakti Gupta’s IDBI Bank account at Ashok Vihar Branch and this amount will be RTGS by Shakti Gupta in his account. On 12.11.16, Hitender Doshi reached IDBI Bank, Ashok Vihar along with his friend Daya Shankar Bhardwaj where Shakti Gupta along with one accused Harikesh Shukla came and met them. Hitender Doshi handed over his cash bag having 16 lakh rupees to Shakti Gupta and Harikesh Shukla. Harikesh Shukla went inside the bank with cash bag and did not turn up and his phone was found switched off. Through CCTV footage, it was revealed that Harikesh Shukla handed over the cash bag to someone inside the bank and after that Harikesh Shukla and that man went out from the bank with cash. After preliminary enquiry on 20.12.16, a case under appropriate sections of law has been registered and investigation was taken up by Northern Range, Crime Branch.

TEAM AND OPERATION: -

A dedicated team of Northern Range led by ACP D.P. Singh, consisting of Inspr. Ravinder Verma, SI Baljeet Singh, ASIs Mahesh, Harvinder, HCs Yatender, Vijay Tyagi, Amit, Rahul and Sonu Singh was constituted under the supervision of DCP Madhur Verma and under the overall supervision of Addl.CP K.K. Vyas to nab them.

During the course of investigation, on 23.12.16, the team which was trailing behind the cheats apprehended all the accused persons and subsequently arrested these accused persons in this case.  They were also taken on 3 days police custody remand.

INTERROGATION: -

During the sustained interrogation of the accused persons, it has been disclosed that the accused Harikesh Sharma @ Shukla is the prime accused and kingpin of crime.

He took the advantage of demonetization alongwith accused persons. Shakti Gupta, an old friend of complainant Hitendra Doshi r/o Kolkata, came to know that victim was carrying old currency notes of Rs.1000/- and Rs.500/- collected from his work and business friends and wanted to take it Kolkata. Shakti Gupta asked the victim to deposit the money in his bank account for further RTGS in victim’s bank account due to risk of carrying cash in huge quantity in the interest of commission despite the fact that Shakti Gupta was not having any bank account in IDBI Bank, Ashok Vihar and this thing was not disclosed to victim by Shakti Gupta.

Shakti Gupta then contacted accused Harikesh Sharma @ Shukla in the interest of commission. Accused Harikesh Shukla and Shakti Gupta finalized a deal and as per this deal, Shakti Gupta handed over the money of victim to Harikesh Sharma @ Shukla and Harikesh Sharma @ Shukla through accused Rajesh to convert these old currency notes into new currency from IDBI Bank, Ashok Vihar. In this episode, Shakti Gupta was to get 15% commission and to be distributed among accused Harikesh Sharma @ Shukla, Rajesh and others involved in converting currency notes. Actually, Shakti Gupta did not have any account at IDBI Bank and complainant was not aware all these things.

Harikesh Sharma @ Shukla played trick and hatched a new plan to grasp the whole money from victim as well as Shakti Gupta. He contacted accused Rajesh Kumar, who was working in IDBI, Civil Lines Branch as Sales Officer and regularly visited at Ashok Vihar Branch and knew many bank officials there. Rajesh Kumar assured him that he would convert the money in new currency notes in the greed of commission. Harikesh Sharma also included one of his friend Ram Lakhan Chauhan for cheating and told the plan to him. Ram Lakhan also joined in this group in the greed of money. As per plan on 12.12.16 at about 11.00 am, accused Harikesh Sharma @ Shukla and Ram Lakhan chauhan reached at IDBI Bank. Accused Rajesh Kumar also reached there. Rajesh Kumar through his acquaintance with bank officials entered in the bank despite restrictions due to crowd in the bank after demonetization and also managed the entry of accused Ram Lakhan Chauhan inside the bank. Then, outside the bank, Harikesh Sharma @ Shukla met Shakti Gupta and Hitendra Doshi and took the custody of currency bag having Rs.16 lac from victim Hitendra Doshi. Harikesh Shukla then handed over this bag to Rajesh through entrance of bank. After getting the custody of bag, as per plan Ram Lakhan put all the currency note in his jacket with the help of accused Rajesh and both left out from the bank and disappeared.

Harikesh Sharma @ Shukla also disappeared after pretending to going washroom. Later, victim Hitendra Doshi realized that he was cheated. Shakti Gupta also tried to contact accused Harikesh but Harikesh and others absconded from that place and also from their premises.

Later in the evening, accused Harikesh Sharma @ Shukla and both accused met each other and Harikesh handed over one lakh each to both accused Rajesh and Ram Lakhan as share of their role. Remaining Rs.14 lac was spent by accused Harikesh Sharma @ Shukla at his native place by returning old debts, spending major portion of money on temple and Majar of his village, 1.50 lakh was depositing in his father’s account and spending lavishly in Mumbai and other places during this period. Remaining both accused person were also deposited some portion of cheated money in their respective bank accounts. The whole incident of receiving and grabbing money inside and outside the IDBI Bank of Ashok Vihar was also captured on CCTV and footage was collected during investigation. Jacket of accused Ram Lakhan and currency bag of victim was also recovered. Efforts are being made to identify the bank accounts and collection of other evidences against the culprits. The role of other persons are also being analyzed.

RECOVERY: -

1. 5 mobiles phones having 5 SIMs used in the crime belong to accused persons.
2. 1 jacket of accused wearing during commission of crime.
3. One bag having currency notes of victim captured in CCTV footage of IDBI Bank.

PROFILE: -

1. Accused Harikesh Sharma @ Shukla belongs to distt. Allahabad. He was residing in Delhi since last 2 years and currently unemployed. He is king pin and prime accused. He was not arrested earlier.
2. Accused Rajesh Kumar belongs to Distt. Azamgarh, UP. He was working in IDBI, Civil Lines Bank as sales officer for opening bank accounts around one year back. He is currently employed with Amrapali Adhya Trading & Investment Limited as relationship manager and deals in share trading. He was friend of accused Harikesh Sharma since last one year. He was not arrested earlier.
3. Accused Ram Lakhan and belongs to Distt. Azamgarh, UP. He is currently working as supervisor with one courier company namely United Courier company, Dashrath Puri, Delhi. He was friend of accused Ram Lakhan since last 6 months. He was not arrested earlier.