Former Air Force group captain cheated of ₹1.02 crore

A Gurugram resident was cheated of ₹1.02 crore by unidentified suspects who approached him last month and convinced him to invest in lithium trading, police said Wednesday.

The complainant, Rajeev Lochan Tyagi, realised he was cheated when he was unable to contact the suspects despite repeated attempts in the past 10 days, police said. Tyagi (68), was a group captain in the Indian Air Force before taking early retirement, and resides in Sector 15, police said.

Tyagi approached cybercrime police station (West) on Tuesday morning and submitted a written complaint, which was registered under sections 419 (cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code.

Tyagi said in the FIR that the suspects contacted him between October 13 and November 10. A senior police officer said the suspects had first sent Tyagi a message on his WhatsApp number, telling him about investment in lithium trading.

“Tyagi made seven transactions to five different bank accounts, which were with different private bank branches at Jeevan Bima Nagar in Bengaluru, Gandhi Nagar in Chennai, Metoda in Gujarat, Borivali in Mumbai, and Pipariya in Madhya Pradesh,” said the officer, adding that the suspects were using phone numbers registerd in foreign countries to communicate with Tyagi.

Jasvir Singh, station house officer of cybercrime (west) police station, said it appears from the modus-operandi of the fraud as well as the overseas numbers used to contact Tyagi, that the suspects are members of a gang run by Nigerian nationals. “They will be arrested soon,” said Singh.

Tyagi did not respond to requests seeking comment.