Image showing a handcuff and the word fraud. (For representational purposes.)
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Bengaluru: A woman and her doctor husband were booked by the Amruthahalli police for allegedly cheating a city-based businessman and his wife of Rs 81 lakh in the pretext of stock market investment.
The Amruthahalli police registered the FIR on November 10 and named Ramya and Dr Pramod as the accused. The FIR was filed following a Private Complaint Register (PCR) before a court by Shweta Jain, the victim from North Bengaluru.
Shweta’s husband, Anand Jain, told DH that he first met Dr Pramod, an orthopaedic surgeon, in Sahakar Nagar for a consultation. Anand, 50, runs a business-to-business (B2B) operation in the city, catering to clients in the US with accounting software support services.
“We became friends after that and on weekends played tennis at the Kanteerava stadium,” Anand said.
Two years later and a few months before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Ramya met Anand at the Kanteerava stadium and, after a conversation, told him that she invests in the stock market and has an event planned for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
“She later met my wife and me at our house. Since I knew the doctor, we trusted Ramya,” Anand said.
On April 15, 2024, Rs 25 lakh was transferred to Ramya from Anand and Shweta’s joint bank account. Following the election, Ramya allegedly told Anand that his investment made a profit of Rs 20 lakh and whether he wanted to continue investing till after the US elections in November 2024.
“I was happy that in a short period of time, I made such a large profit and hence agreed to her proposal to continue the trades through the US election and exit once it is over,” Anand said.
On June 10, 2024, Anand wired Ramya Rs 25 lakh, on July 1, Rs 21 lakh and on July 4, Rs 10 lakh, totalling Rs 81 lakh, including his previous Rs 25 lakh, as per the FIR. Anand said that on November 5, 2024, when he asked Ramya about the investment, he was told that the funds were frozen in the US market.
After receiving no proof for the claim and being stalled, Anand approached the court for a case. An investigation is underway.