NEW DELHI: Three people were arrested from Bihar for posing as representatives of Patanjali Yog Gram in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar and duping people seeking Ayurvedic treatment, police said on Saturday.
The accused, identified as Harendra Kumar alias Harry (25), Ramesh Patel alias Ghantu (31) and Ashish Kumar alias Chhotu (22), had created 20 fake websites in the name of Patanjali Yog Gram and other Ayurvedic treatment centres.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (north Delhi) Sagar Singh Kalsi said a man lodged a complaint alleging that he searched for Ayurvedic treatment for his son on Google and contacted a mobile number mentioned on a website where a person pretending to be Dr. Sunil Gupta from Patanjali spoke to him and directed him to pay `10,000 as a registration fee.
“Subsequently, the complainant paid Rs 2.4 lakh in an account provided by Dr Sunil Gupta. When he realised he was duped, he contacted the police,” the official said.
During investigation, the police analysed bank details in which the cheated amount was deposited and found that the mobile number was linked with the bank in Kolkata, West Bengal but was active in Nalanda, Bihar. The money was withdrawn from different ATMs in West Bengal.
Two accused, including the website developer, were nabbed from Patna while the third and main accused was nabbed from Nalanda in Bihar with the help of local police.
During interrogation, the accused Ramesh and Ashish revealed that they would purchase pre-activated sim cards of West Bengal, Assam and Orissa from various sources. Accused also purchased pre-activated bank accounts, which were used for payment and withdrawal. They also revealed that fake websites were created so that people looking for treatment at Patanjali Yoggram will contact them for booking as no option of online booking for a stay at Patanjali Yoggram was available on the internet.
Once a victim contacted them on the number mentioned on the website, they used to introduce themselves as Patanjali Yoggram Doctor and charge money in the name of booking and treatment. The websites resembling Patanjali Yog Gram were also created for the same purpose, the police said.