Srinagar: The Economic Offences Wing Kashmir of the Crime Branch J&K has filed a chargesheet against two accused persons in a fake international prize money scam, after establishing their involvement in cheating a complainant of lakhs of rupees.
The chargesheet has been produced in FIR No. 24/2017, registered under Section 420 RPC read with Section 66(d) of the IT Act, before the Court of City Munsif (JMIC) Srinagar.
According to a Crime Branch spokesperson, the case originated from a complaint wherein the victim was lured by a fraudulent phone call claiming that he had won a prize of Rs 2.35 crore along with a car, allegedly from M/s Chevrolet Motors Promotion Limited, UK. The caller instructed the complainant to communicate through an email ID, cheprom@liv.co.uk, and subsequently asked him to deposit money towards customs duty.
The spokesperson said the complainant was directed to deposit the amount into a bank account maintained in the name of Jitu Raj Johari at the State Bank of India, Sarai Khawja branch. Thereafter, the victim received further emails asking him to open an account with the Royal Bank of Scotland and deposit additional funds as Charges of Transfer (COT) through an NSG agency.
“Despite arranging funds from multiple sources and depositing the amounts as instructed, no prize money was ever transferred to the complainant. The accused continued to mislead him, with one of them identifying himself as ‘Frank Ban’,” the spokesperson added.
The investigation conclusively established the involvement of Jitu Raj Johari, son of Anand Kumar Johari, resident of Faridabad, Haryana, and Suresh Thakur, son of Ramesh Thakur, presently residing in Shakurpur, Delhi. Both were found to have fraudulently and dishonestly duped the complainant of substantial amounts.
The spokesperson further stated that based on oral, documentary, and corroborative evidence collected during the investigation, offences under the relevant provisions of law were proved, following which the chargesheet was presented before the competent court for judicial adjudication.
