Couple booked for duping ex-Lok Sabha official of Rs 1cr

Gurugram, Oct 20 (IANS) A couple was booked on Thursday for allegedly duping a retired deputy director-security of Lok Sabha of over Rs 1 crore on the pretext of investing in mutual funds and the share market.

A complaint was filed by B.L. Ahuja (83), a resident of Sector 43, In connection with the matter. Ahuja retired as Deputy Director of Security from Lok Sabha in November 2000.

Ahuja levelled allegations against Abhishek Maheshwari, an employee of Axis bank, and his wife for swindling over Rs 1 crore.

Ahuja stated in his complaint that Abhishek was known to him since 2013 when he was working at ICICI bank.

"He advised me to put money in a mutual fund instead of keeping it in the bank. I gave him 2 cheques for Rs 1 crore in 2018. I asked him about my investments and he said they are doing very well. In March 2019, he took another Rs 30 lakh via cheque to invest in Wipro shares. My son who lives in the US asked him about the statements of investment several times and he shared fake statements," Ahuja said in his complaint.

"In April 2021, my son came to India to help us during the Covid-19 pandemic and started looking at our financial statements. He again asked Abhishek about the access and statements of the Sharekhan account but received only false promises," he added.

"He contacted the local Sharekhan office and came to know that Abhishek Maheshwari is running the sub-broker company with his wife Archana. They took control of my account by getting OTP from my phone without my knowledge and authorisation and then I moved police."

Following the complaint, an FIR has been registered against the couple 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 IPC at Sushant Lok police station.

"Based on a complaint, a case has been registered and we are verifying the facts. Further probe is on," Inspector Deepak Kumar, SHO of Sushant Lok police station said.