Store worker duped of Rs 81,000

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 19

Three men posing as CBI officials conned the employee of a trader out of Rs 81,000 in the Kesar Ganj market on Thursday. The con men were reportedly captured in CCTV cameras installed in the market.

The Kotwali Station House Officer, Pawan Kumar, reached the spot and started investigation.

Varinder Kumar, a worker of Gupta Studio that deals in cameras and other digital products, told the police that he had gone to deposit cash at UCO Bank located near their showroom in the Kesar Ganj market. The moment he reached the bank, he was stopped by two men. They asked him to meet a “CBI officer” standing on the other side of the road.

“When I met the alleged CBI officer, he asked his aide to check my bag as some banned medicines were being supplied from Pakistan. After checking the bag, he handed it over to me. I reached the bank, deposited Rs 80,000 in cash and took a receipt. I was not aware that my bag contained Rs 1.61 lakh. I came to know about it only when the studio owner, Neeraj Gupta, expressed shock that why I deposited only Rs 80,000 in the bank when he handed me Rs 1.61 lakh,” he told the police.

Meanwhile, Neeraj said Varinder had been working at their showroom for a long time. He daily deposited cash in the bank. “We had given a bag to Varinder to deposit Rs 1.61 lakh in cash but he was not aware about the amount. When I checked the bank receipt, I came to know that he had been conned. It seemed the CBI imposters stole Rs 81,000 and handed over the bag to our employee. We checked footage of CCTV cameras installed at the bank and found that our worker deposited only half the amount. We do not doubt our worker’s integrity,” he added.

The Station House Officer said CCTV footage obtained from various places was being checked to identify the con men.