Cong woman leader, 6 others booked for duping NRI of ₹20cr

PHAGWARA:A leader of the Mahila Congress was among the seven people booked for allegedly duping a non-resident India (NRI) of more than ₹20 crore here, the police said on Wednesday.

Congress leader Minakshi Verma, a resident of Basant Nagar, her Uk-based daughter Deepti Bhalla, her relatives Sohan Lal Shinh, his wife Veena Shinh, his sons Lohit Shinh and Lokesh Shinh and their friend Cristina Lezovika, a resident of Dubai, have been booked, they said. The seven persons have been booked on the charge of cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property on February 12 on the basis of a complaint by Uk-based NRI Surinder Kumar, they said.

The complainant told police that Deepti Bhalla was his friend and she had introduced him to Lohit and Lokesh as noted brokers of a Dubai-based firm A S Market Company.

He further told police that he was asked to invest in the company for assured 30 per cent profit.

Kumar said he came to India in November 2015 and stayed in Bhalla’s house who introduced him to her mother and after which he gave Rs 30 lakh for investment. He further told the police that subsequent meetings were arranged by the accused in Gurgaon in Haryana, Dubai and the UK and he gave in installments of total ₹20.8 crore to them.

But when the complainant demanded his 30% profit in March last year, he was neither given any profit nor returned the amount that he, police said.

Satnampura SHO Narinder Singh Aujla confirmed the incident and said raids were being conducted to arrest the accused.

Meanwhile, Verma denied the allegations as baseless and said she had nothing to do with the issue and she was being implicated in it falsely.

Sohan Lal Shinh, also denied the allegations, and accused a local influential man for being behind it.