A retired assistant manager from an airline company has lodged a criminal offence against a gang of fraudsters, who on the pretext of clearing a loan proposal, duped the victim to the tune of Rs 17.18 lakh.

The fraudsters told the victim that it would not get his loan proposal cancelled, then he would have to face police action. The fraudsters also shared the photograph of female police personnel with the victim over WhatsApp to scare the victim.

According to the Bazarpeth police, the 59-year-old complainant is a resident of Kalyan.

In 2010, the victim had come across an advertisement in a newspaper, which stated about providing a personal loan. The victim had contacted the person whose number was given in the advertisement and had paid Rs 1.15 lakh. When the person asked for more Rs 2 lakh, the victim suspected something amiss and did not pay the amount. The victim also made enquiries about the account in which he had transferred the money, but when he did not receive much help from the bank officials, he stopped following up.

"In July this year, the victim received a phone call from a person who informed the victim that a few years ago, he had applied for a personal loan, but had not cancelled the loan proposal. The fraudster then informed the victim that he would have to face court and police action and also shared a photograph of female police personnel with the victim over WhatsApp to scare the victim. The fraudster then told the victim to pay up for cancelling the loan and induced the victim to pay Rs 17.18 lakh in different bank accounts," said a police officer.

"Harassed with the persistent demand for more money, the victim approached the police and got a complaint lodged on Wednesday under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 170 (Personating a public servant), 34 (common intention), 406 (Punishment for criminal breach of trust), 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and 507 (Criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act," the police added.

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