NEW DELHI: Two men were arrested for allegedly duping an elderly couple of Rs 5.2 crore on the pretext of high returns on investments. Ankit Thakur (29) and Vinod Arya (28) duped the octogenarian couple through their firm 'Ecounsellor Webtech Private Limited' which engaged in the business of website development, police said on Friday.
The duo took advantage of the blindness of the victim, who is a retired senior government servant with Ministry of Labour. He and his wife were duped to the tune of Rs 5.24 crore approximately on the pretext of providing high returns, police said.
A case was registered in this regard with the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police. Additional Commissioner of Police (EOW) RK Singh said that the victim couple wanted to settle in the US with their children who are already employed and settled there.
So, they decided to sell their immovable properties acquired during the lifetime for the same purpose. "During this, they came in contact with the accused persons, who induced them through rosy presentation of very high returns for investing the money of these sale proceeds in their company. All the money was handed over to the accused duo who in the name of website production misappropriated their money," he further said.
For winning confidence of the victims, they issued dated cheques from bogus accounts, which got bounced and they misappropriated the amount collected from the couple. "On the basis of the meticulous investigation, both the accused were arrested. They have been taken on police custody and further investigation is in progress," said Singh.
Police said the accused men, who are college dropouts, are the directors and authorised signatories of the alleged company.
Victims wanted to move to US
The victim couple wanted to settle in the US with their children who are settled there. So, they decided to sell their immovable properties. They came in contact with the accused, who promised them high returns for investment