Mohali: Army sepoy booked for duping naik of ₹19 lakh
Mohali police have booked a 30-year-old Indian Army sepoy for duping a naik posted with army of ₹19 lakh on pretext of conducting online investments. The accused has been identified as Rohit Saini of Phase-1, Mohali.
The 34 year-old victim, Naik Gursewak Singh of Gidderbaha and posted at Amritsar Cantt, told police that he met Saini in 2023.
The accused, according to the complainant, won his faith and convinced him to share his online banking passwords. “He said if I would share my banking passwords with him, he would invest in multiple online companies to earn monthly profits and also to avail double profit than the invested amount. When I told him about my poor financial condition, he said he would avail loans through my bank account and he himself would pay the instalments. He further revealed that he was giving benefits to other soldiers of his regiment too,” Singh stated.
After trusting Saini, Singh allowed him to use his bank accounts following which Saini took a ₹19-lakh loan from two banks, including one from the salary account of the victim, in May 2023.
He allegedly transferred the said amount to his own bank account and continued to pay a monthly instalment of ₹37,210, towards his own loan, for seven months.
“On April 1, 2024, Saini went on leave citing that his brother-in-law had died due to heart attack, but he never returned to the army. Later, I got to know that he had duped 15 more soldiers of lakhs of rupees,” Singh added.
Singh further said he belonged to a poor family, including ageing parents who were dependent on him, and thus was in no state to repay the loan.
He lodged a complaint with the Punjab director general of police (DGP), following which an investigation was marked to a deputy superintendent of police (DSP) rank officer in Mohali.
After a preliminary probe, Phase-1 police booked the absconding Saini under Sections 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and under relevant sections of Information Technology Act.
