Brigadier falls for fake bonus, loses Rs 20 lakh

An Indian Army Brigadier was duped of Rs 20 lakh after being informed that he had earned a bonus on his Life Insurance Corporation policy. Brigadier Ajay Pal, 52, was told that he was required to invest 40 per cent of the bonus, police said on Saturday.

Pal told police that it began after he was contacted by the officials of ‘Bima Lokpal Bill’. He was informed that he had earned a bonus of Rs 86,000 on his LIC policy. However, to transfer the money to his bank account, Pal was asked to invest a part of the bonus.

“Pal took an insurance policy of Rs 25,000 from them,” said a police officer. Soon, Pal was informed that the bonus had increased to Rs 1.86 lakh and he was asked to deposit Rs 49,000 to ‘Go India Service’.

Pal made the payment, but the demand for money did not stop there. Deposits were requested for opening a Demat account, agent code removal, NOC form, income tax, service tax, among others.

“In this process of asking money, the bonus amount was increased to Rs 7.2 lakh, and finally, I was told that my file was categorised in diamond category due to which the bonus amount will be Rs 25 lakh,” Pal stated in his complaint to police. Pal was not provided any document related to the payments. When he tried to meet them, Pal was provided two addresses. He went there to realise that they were fake and he was being duped.

On the basis of Pal’s statement, a case under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code has been filed with crime branch police station.

The investigating officers are probing into details provided by Pal, who has named three of the accused, including a woman. “The contact addresses were of a building in Noida sector 67 and Jeevan Tara Building in central Delhi’s Janpath,” the police officer added.