Former senior Punjab police officer Amar Singh Chahal allegedly attempted to kill himself at his residence in Patiala on Monday. In a purported note, Chahal said he was duped of Rs 8.10 crore by cyber fraudsters who posed as wealth management advisors.
According to the Punjab police, in the note addressed to Punjab police chief Gaurav Yadav, the former IPS officer alleged that fraudsters operated through WhatsApp and Telegram groups under the profile name 'F-777 DBS Wealth Equity Research Group.' The miscreants allegedly made false claims linking DBS Bank and its CEO.
According to the note, the group lured investors by promising unusually high returns through stock trading, IPO allotments, OTC trades and so-called "quantitative funds. "Fake dashboards were created to show inflated profits, gradually building confidence among investors and prompting them to deposit large sums," Chahal said.
The former police officer said the fraudsters repeatedly pressured him to reinvest the profits and was asked to pay hefty amounts as "service fees" and "taxes". The fraudsters also allegedly demanded additional charges to withdraw his money, amounting to several crores.
Also read
- Why Punjab declared Amritsar, Talwandi Sabo, and Anandpur Sahib as holy cities
- Who is Rajbir Singh? How the Indian Army deserter was caught before being flown to Europe by Pakistani handlers
- VB–G RAM G vs MGNREGA | Bhagwant Mann fears BJP may even rename India to 'Deen Dayal Upadhay Nagar'
- What happened to Kanwar Digvijay Singh aka Rana Balachauria? Kabbadi promoter’s murder linked to Sidhu Moosewala killers
Chahal charged his withdrawal requests were never processed. In his note, Chahal urged the Punjab police to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) or hand over the case to a specialised central agency to trace the money trail.
Patiala Senior Superintendent of Police Varun Sharma said Chahal was shifted to the hospital in a critical condition. The senior police officer was one of the accused in the 2015 police firing cases related to anti-sacrilege protests in Faridkot. Police said they are probing the firing incident and examining the note, bank transactions, and digital evidence.