A man was arrested for cheating a person of over Rs.8 lakh and selling him a herb by giving wrong information that it is used for treating cancer, police said Tuesday.
Dinesh, 35, was arrested from the Khirki Extension Oct 9 when he came to deliver packets of the fake herb, called "Hazara Root", to the complainant.
"Dinesh's arrest helped us bust a gang of cheats. We are trying to nab his associates," said Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Ashok Chand.
Police came to know about the racket when a man from Visakhapatnam complained to the Crime Branch of Delhi Police that the gang had cheated him.
The complainant informed police that he had come in contact with a woman Chrissi Benson through social networking site.
Benson, supposedly based in Britain, introduced herself as a delegate of a herbal laboratory in the Netherlands.
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She told the victim that her company wants to buy "Hazaraa Root", used as medicine for treating cancer. She added that one Sanjeev Thakral can provide it in Delhi for Rs.45,000 per 50 grams.
She further told the complainant that she will pay him $3,100 per 50 grams and he can retain 60 percent of the profit.
The victim, on Benson's directive, paid Thakral Rs.45,000 for 50 grams of the sample.
Same day, another person George O'Neil of Nigeria contacted the complainant at a hotel in Mahipalpur of south Delhi.
"O'Neil claimed he is a delegate of the company where Benson works and approved the sample."
"Next day, the complainant purchased 19 packets for Rs.855,000 and met O'Neil for delivering it as Benson had said he will collect the product in her absence. But O'Neil refused, saying he will only accept a minimum of 50 packets."
The complainant became suspicious and upon verification found no such herb is used to prepare medicine for treating cancer.
The official said: "The victim filed a complaint and Dinesh was arrested when he came to deliver 30 more packets of 'Hazaraa Root'."
Dinesh disclosed that a Nigerian national I.K. who resides in Khirkee Extension is the mastermind behind the racket.
Sanjeev Thakral turned out to be one Narender Sharma.