38-yr-old con man held for duping Chandigarh girl of Rs 75 lakh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 11

A 38-year-old man and his three accomplices, who had allegedly duped a girl and her family of nearly Rs 75 lakh on the pretext of marriage and taking them to the US, have been arrested by the UT police.

The suspect has been identified as Jagjit Singh, alias Sonu Jeeta, alias Rattan, a resident of Jalandhar.

Complainant Ramandeep Kaur (36), a resident of Sector 24, had claimed she met Jagjit through a matrimonial site, where he posed as a US citizen.

The complainant stated on June 3, their marriage was solemnised in Kharar on which her family spent Rs 20 lakh, besides giving expensive gifts to the groom.

Soon after the marriage, the suspect started residing with her parental house in Sector 24. The suspect later insisted the complainant and her family applied for visa and took away their passports. He allegedly collected Rs 75 lakh from them.

The suspect, however, started demanding more money from the family, threatening to leave his wife if his demands were not met.

The complainant later came to know the suspect was already married to Annu Grewal of Jalandhar, with whom he had a child. On further probe, it was found the suspect had married another girl, Navjot Kaur, of Sector 35.

While marrying the complainant, the suspect had introduced his father Balwinder Singh and mother Sunita Malhotra as his business partners. His sister Amandeep Kaur and relative of Manjit Singh were also allegedly involved in cheating.

The police registered a under Sections 406, 498A, 420, 323, 376, 506, 120B, 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC at the Sector 11 police station and arrested the suspect.

A fake Aadhaar card in the name of Rattan Kumar of Delhi and PAN card in the name of Joshan Singh of Gurgaon have been recovered.

During interrogation, it came to light Jagjit was working as a travel agent and had solemnised four marriages, before marrying the complainant.

During further investigation, Manjit Singh (63) of Patiala, Paramdeep Singh (36) of Jalandhar and Mohammad of New Delhi were arrested.

“The suspects were aware of cheating and had attended the wedding to make it look legitimate,” said a police official. Meanwhile, 13 passports have been seized from the prime suspect.

In past, 4 marriages solemnised by suspect

• 2007: Married Ranjit Kaur, got divorced three months later
• 2009: Married Anu Grewal; has a daughter from the wedlock
• 2017: Married Daljit Kaur, a resident of Nawanshahr district
• 2022: Married Navjot Kaur; later got married to complainant Ramandeep

Criminal record

• Cheating case in Jalandhar, got bail and went to US; in 2012 declared a PO and got deported to India
• Cheating case at Phagwara in 2017, underwent 2-year jail, where he was booked for using a mobile
• Booked for cheating in Jalandhar in April 2017, arrested in July. Got bail from SC in March this year
• Cheating case registered against him at Bhogpur, Punjab, in 2021

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