Gurugram: Social media influencer Bobby Kataria admits to sending 33 victims abroad

Gurugram, May 31

Social media influencer Balwant, alias Bobby Kataria, who was arrested in a case of human trafficking and fraud, revealed to the police during investigation that he had sent 33 people abroad so far on the promise of providing them jobs there. To lure people, Bobby and Manju Singh made reels about jobs abroad.

He also confessed to cheating people and forcing them to commit cyber fraud after sending them abroad. After completion of the three-day police remand, the police produced Bobby in a city court today which sent him into judicial custody. The police had earlier recovered Rs 20 lakh worth of cash and four mobile phones from him. During remand, two more phones and nine passports were also recovered from Bobby.

“Bobby Kataria had opened offices in Gurugram, Sikar (Rajasthan), Greater Faridabad and Nabha (Punjab) and he was set to open another office in Ahmedabad on June 9. The accused confessed that he had sent 33 people abroad so far, out of which 12 were sent to Armenia, two to Singapore, four to Bangkok, three to Canada and 12 to Laos. Out of the 12 people sent to Laos, five have returned, while seven are still there,” said investigating officer Pramod Kumar.

Meanwhile, two more victims from Bhiwani and Kurukshetra approached Gururgam police on Friday. They claimed Bobby duped them of Rs 7.5 lakh and Rs 4 lakh each, respectively in the name of sending them abroad.

“Bobby also revealed that he had opened an office in Conscient One Mall, sector 109, Gurugram in February last year. As Bobby has over 3 lakh followers on Instagram, he got in touch with Ankit Shokeen, who lives in Laos. After this, he continued to post reels about getting jobs abroad and defrauded people. We are trying to nab his other associates. We have also sought the details of his bank accounts,” said ACP crime Varun Dahiya.