New Delhi, Oct 26 (PTI) A 21-year-old man was arrested for allegedly duping people from across the country of Rs. 1.34 crore on the pretext of providing raw herbal spurge oil for profitable business, police said on Tuesday.

The accused, Sonu Nagar, a resident of Gautam Budh Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, worked at a mall in Noida. He was under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate team, they said.

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The matter was reported at Tilak Nagar police station in west Delhi in September this year.

The complainant, who was duped by the accused of Rs 45 lakh, informed police that some persons approached him and claimed to be authorised representatives of reputed international pharma companies.

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They started conversation with him through various modes, he told police.

They told him that they wanted to expand their spurge oil business and offered the same to him at lower rates.

They convinced him to engage in the business of spurge oil to gain high profit and cheated him of approximately Rs 45 lakh. They later blocked him and stopped all modes of contact, said a senior police officer.

The case was later transferred to the cyber cell of west Delhi district, which analysed details of various bank accounts of alleged persons and established the money trail.

Technical surveillance was also mounted to track the activities of the suspects, he said.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Prashant Gautam said: "On analysis of documents received from banks and mobile service providers, it was revealed that all the bank accounts and SIMs were obtained on fake documents. All the Mobile numbers used in the offence were found switched off."

"But accused Sonu Nagar was identified as the kingpin of the cheating scam who opened various bank accounts on the basis of fake documents and received approximately 1.34 crore cheated amount from pan India based victims in his several bank accounts," he said.

He was arrested on October 22 from a place in Noida, police said, adding efforts are being made to arrest the remaining members of gang.

Police have also recovered a smartphone, fake documents used in creating shell company and bank debit cards.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)