Retired Lok Sabha deputy director of security duped of over Rs 1 crore

A retired deputy director of security at the Lok Sabha was allegedly duped of over Rs 1 crore on the pretext of investments in mutual funds and shares, police said.

Sector 43 resident BL Ahuja (83) retired as deputy director (security) at the Lok Sabha in November 2000.

He was allegedly duped by an Axis Bank employee, identified as Abhishek Maheshwari, and his wife. Ahuja had known Maheshwari since 2013, when he worked at ICICI Bank, he said in his police complaint.

Maheshwari advised Ahuja to put money in mutual funds instead of keeping it in the bank. Ahuja gave him two cheques worth Rs 1 crore in 2018. In March 2019, he took another cheque of Rs 30 lakh to invest in shares of Wipro, Ahuja said.

Ahuja's son, who lives in the US, asked Maheshwari about the status of the investments multiple times, following which he allegedly shared fake documents. In April 2021, when his son visited during Covid-19, he started looking at the financial statements and again asked Maheshwari for access to the retail brokerage account and statements, but received "false promises", Ahuja added.

Ahuja's son then contacted the local office the brokerage and learnt that Maheshwari allegedly ran a sub-brokerage with his wife, Archana.

They allegedly took control of Ahuja's account by getting the OTP (one-time password) from his phone without his knowledge and authorisation, forcing him to file the complaint.

An FIR was registered against the couple under under sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using forged document), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code at Sushant Lok police station, the police said.

"As per the complaint, FIR has been registered and we are verifying the facts. Action will be taken as per law," said Sushant Lok police station SHO Deepak Kumar.