Man, son arrested for duping bizman, friend of ₹42 lakh

JALANDHAR: Police have arrested a man and his son, Pardeep Suri and Vikram Suri, of Model Town in Jalandhar, for duping a Jalandhar businessman and his friend of ₹42 lakh on the pretext of settling them in the US.

The arrests were made in Haryana and a local court sent them to two-day police remand on Thursday.

Gaurav Kataria, a local businessman, had filed a complaint on October 25 against the Suris, saying that they had taken ₹26.15 lakh from him and another ₹16.5 lakh from his friend Rohit Chugh on the promise that they would help them settle ‘permanently’ in the US.

“I had met the Suris through the common friend, Chugh. Vikram convinced us that he could help us settle in the US. We were taken in by the promise and paid them the money, along with all our documents like passports and other identity proofs,” Kataria claimed, adding that soon after the accused started avoiding them.

Jalandhar police commissioner directed assistant commissioner of police (ACP, headquarters) to conduct an inquiry.

The ACP found that the Puris were running a travel agency in an unauthorised manner and recommended the registration of a First-Information Report (FIR) in the matter.

Finally, a case was registered against the accused on November 15 under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and section 13 of the Punjab Travel Professional Regulation Act, 2012, at division number seven police station.