Uttarakhand: Fugitive soldier dupes 32 people of Rs 1.20 crore, held

A fugitive Lance Naik of the Indian Army has been arrested along with one of his associates from Punjab for duping 32 people of crores of rupees on the pretext of providing them jobs in the Military Engineer Services (MES). Both were operating in Pithoragarh town in Uttrakhand and fugitive Lance Naik was using his ‘old’ identification to lure youth for job.

A senior official of the Uttrakhand Police, said that the duo, identified as Deepak Kumar and Vikram Pathania, were held from Punjab after combined efforts by police teams in Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab. They had been on the run since May after the victims smelt a rat, the police said.

Deepak Kumar hails from Mareen area of Kathua district in Jammu and was declared a fugitive from the Indian Army in 2018, where he was serving as Lance Naik. The other accused Vikram Pathania is a resident of Dunera area of Pathankot district of Punjab and was running a Common Service Centre in the area.

The duo duped the victims who hailed from Pithoragarh, offering them the job of clerk and storekeeper in Military Engineer Services (MES), in return for a sum of money.

They managed to dupe the victim of a total amount of Rs 1.20 crore - Rs 5.5 lakh for the job of clerk while Rs 3.6 lakh for job of storekeeper. The police recovered one car, two mobile phones, several SIM cards and two ATMs from their possession.

Sharing details, SP Pithoragarh IPS Lokeshwer Singh said that based on a complaint, the duo was arrested from Punjab and presented before court.

The incident came into light after a victim, identified as Lalit Bisht, approached the Financial Fraud Unit of Uttrakhand Police. In his complaint, he narrated how Deepak and Vikram duped a total of 32 youth on the pretext of offering them jobs and took Rs 1.20 core from them. “The locals of the area were used as middlemen by Deepak and Vikram and then after taking money, they would become incommunicado after which we enquired and came to know that we have been duped,” Lalit said in his complaint.

Soon after getting the complaint, Uttrakhand Police formed a Special Operation Group led by SHO Jajardewal Police Station Madan Singh Bisht to nab the accused.