Man duped of 23 lakh by two suspects posing as G Noida authority officials

Noida: A resident of Sector 49 was allegedly duped of 23 lakh by two suspects who posed as officials of the Greater Noida authority, Gautam Budh Nagar police said on Tuesday.

Man duped of 23 lakh by two suspects posing as G Noida authority officials
Police said the suspects duped the victim on the pretext of getting the registry done for an industrial plot. As per the victim, he met one of the suspects at the Greater Noida authority’s office in 2018 after which he was duped into paying 23 lakh for the plot registry.

According to the complainant who requested to be anonymous, he had bought an industrial plot in Greater Noida’s Ecotech-11 from another person. “I had to get the plot’s transfer memorandum, completion certificate and functioning certificate from the Greater Noida authority. In July 2018, when I was at the authority office, I met a man named Ashish Garg, who said that he works at the authority and can get my work done for 20 lakh,” he said.

The victim transferred 18.41 lakh between July 2018 and July 2020 in installments, police said.

“On July 14, 2020, Garg gave me a transfer memorandum document, saying that the work has been completed. However, I asked him to also give me the completion certificate and functioning certificate, but he said that those documents have been attached in the authority file of my plot. Since the Covid-19 pandemic was at its peak, I could not get the documents verified from the authority office myself,” said the complainant.

Later in 2021, when the victim was still not able to get the two certificates, Garg came to his home with another person named Azad Singh. “Garg told me that if I give 4.50 lakh to Singh, he can get my work done and get me the two pending certificates. Trusting them, I transferred the amount to Singh’s account but the work was still not done. After about five months, Garg and Singh stopped answering my calls and changed their contact numbers as well”, he said.

The victim further said in his complaint, “I went to the authority office earlier this month and came to know that the transfer memorandum certificate that Garg gave was fake. Officials also told me that there is no person by the name of Ashish Garg working in authority office,” he said.

On the basis of the complaint, an FIR was registered at the Sector 49 police station on Sunday, said police.

“A case has been registered against Ashish Garg and Azad Singh under sections of cheating and forgery of the Indian Penal Code (IPC),” said Sandeep Chaudhary, station house officer (SHO) of Sector 49 police station.

SHO Chaudhary added, “The matter is under investigation. The details of the suspects are being scrutinised and they will be nabbed soon”.