Sanjaya Baru, ex-advisor to Manmohan Singh, duped of Rs 24,000 after ordering liquor online; one arrested, other accused absconding

New Delhi: A 31-year-old man was arrested for allegedly duping political commentator and policy analyst Sanjaya Baru of Rs 24,000 on the pretext of online delivery of liquor, police said on Sunday. Baru was the media advisor to former prime minister Manmohan Singh. The accused – Akib Javed, a resident Kaman town in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan – was nabbed from his native place after a raid on Saturday, police said. Javed used to work as a taxi driver earlier but indulged in cyber crime to make easy money, they said, adding efforts are being made to nab his associates who are absconding. The accused claimed he, along with his associates, have cheated over 100 people during the lockdown period, imposed to curb the spread of coronavirus in the country. Police said the matter came to light on 2 June when they received a complaint from Baru. In his complaint, Baru alleged that while he was searching for a shop online to purchase liquor, he found “La Cave Wines and Spirits”. When he contacted on the given number to place an order, he was asked to pay online first, police said. After Baru made a payment of approximately Rs 24,000, the person on the other end switched his mobile phone off and went incommunicado, they said. A case was registered at the Hauz Khas police station under section 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code and an investigation was taken up, said Atul Kumar Thakur, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South). During preliminary investigation, bank statements, flow of cheated money and call details of the mobile numbers were traced. It was found the accused has opened bank accounts by furnishing fake KYC details, he said. After analysing transaction details and mobile numbers used by the accused, the search led towards Kaman in Bharatpur area, Thakur said. To mislead investigators, the accused had procured SIM cards and opened bank accounts in various like Assam, Maharashtra, Punjab and Rajasthan, the DCP said. The analysis of technical evidence revealed that the cheated amount was transferred to a PNB account in the name of Akib, he said. During interrogation, the accused disclosed that his associates obtained SIM cards on fictitious names and fake addresses of different states. After receiving the money, within 5-10 minutes, they diverted the cheated amount to three-four bank accounts of different states and later they would divert the money to their respective accounts, Thakur said.