Retired Army havildar fakes gunpoint robbery to hide Rs 1 crore online casino loss

In a bizarre attempt to mislead his family, a retired Army havildar from Kotli Khurd village here faked a gunpoint robbery after reportedly losing over Rs 1 crore, including his pension and gratuity, in online casino game over the past four years. 

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Avtar Singh, who superannuated from the Army on April 30, alleged to the Bathinda police on Friday that a young boy and a girl looted Rs 15 lakh and a cellphone from him at gunpoint after taking a lift on his motorcycle, while he was returning from a bank in Bathinda after withdrawing the money.

He even claimed that the duo, later joined by an accomplice waiting in an Alto car along the way, gave him poison-laced juice at Gehri Bhagi T-intersection and fled, following which he was admitted to the local civil hospital.

“However, during the investigation, we found that Avtar Singh never visited any bank in Bathinda yesterday, and neither does he have such an amount in his account at Maur, where he was actually present at the same time. He concocted the entire story to cover up the fact that he had lost his pension and savings in online gambling. Besides, he planned to extract some money from his parents,” said Harjit Singh, DSP (Rural), Bathinda.

The DSP added that Avtar’s family no longer trusts him. “We have now registered a case against Avtar under Section 217 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at Kotfatta police station for giving false information to mislead and wasting the police time. We also appeal to the public to give genuine statements to the police,” he said.