Jalandhar: Retired govt official alleges Rs 38 lakh fraud by business partner

Avneet Kaur

Jalandhar, July 21

In an alleged fraud case, Karnail Singh, a retired election tehsildar from Hoshiarpur, accused his former business partner, Hardeep Kumar of Jalandhar’s Abadpura, of defrauding him of Rs 38 lakh.

Singh claims that Kumar fled to Canada in November last year after selling the entire stock of their pharmaceutical business. Singh’s complaint to the Commissionerate Police (CP) last November resulted in an FIR only a few days ago on July 16, highlighting what he describes as police’s sluggish response. Their business, Maple Pharmaceutical, was founded in October 2020.

Singh invested 75 per cent of the capital, amounting to Rs 38 lakh, while Kumar, an experienced pharmaceutical professional, contributed the remainder. Singh claims that after jointly running the business for three years, Kumar sold the entire stock amounting to Rs 40 lakh and fled to Canada.

Singh described his relationship with Kumar, stating that he first met him while serving as a tehsildar in Jalandhar in 2015-16. Kumar used to provide him medicines on discount. “This professional relationship grew into a personal connection, which led to the business proposal in 2020. Kumar suggested that when I retired, I buy a local pharmaceutical company whose owner was moving abroad. The deal was settled at Rs 44 lakh, with me contributing Rs 33 lakh via bank transfer and an additional Rs 5.56 lakh to set up the office,” he said.

He added that the licence was obtained in Kumar’s name, but a legal agreement documented their joint partnership, including a joint bank account with him as a signing authority.

“My focus shifted to family matters in 2023, following the cancer diagnosis of my brother-in-law. Kumar took advantage of my preoccupation, liquidated our stock, and fled with the proceeds,” he added.

Meanwhile, Sahil Chaudhary, SHO Division Number 6, said the complaint was filed with a CP officer, and that after a thorough investigation and necessary formalities, the case was forwarded to them for FIR registration.