The Delhi Police has arrested a man who allegedly conned people and misappropriated their household articles by projecting himself as a representative of a reputed packers and movers company.
Police arrested Lalit Sharma also known as Vikas Sharma in connection with a complaint lodged by a Delhi resident whose entire household articles were taken away by the accused under the guise of transporting it to Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh.
Several household articles ranging from fridges, LED TVs, air conditioners, coolers and washing machines were recovered from him.
While investigating the case, the police also came across information about how online queries made by people on search engines like 'Just Dial' ended up in the hands of unscrupulous people who used the details to con the those making the online search.
Police said that efforts are underway to identify and apprehend other people who had helped Sharma and further arrests were likely.
In the instant case, complainant Manoj Srivastava, residing at Malviya Nagar, was being transferred to Lucknow from Delhi and he had made online queries for a reputed packer and mover to transport his household articles.
According to his complaint, Sharma called him representing himself as an executive of Gati Packers and Movers and offered him a good price for transporting the goods.
Sharma came to Srivastava's home and also showed him paperwork and identification which appeared to be authentic.
Thereafter, Srivastava entered into a contract with the accused to transport the goods.
However, when the goods did not reach their destination, the complainant called the accused several times, but Sharma's numbers were not reachable, police said.
When the complainant contacted Gati Packers and Movers Ltd, the company said it did not have any such person on their employee rolls.
On Srivastava's complaint, a team was constituted which searched the nearby Khirki Extension area and also managed to collect CCTV footage showing the tempo in which the goods were carried away, police also said.
After getting the registration number of the tempo from the footage, police traced its driver and owner who gave up the details of the accused during interrogation.
However, it was found that Sharma had been arrested by Haryana Police from Gurugram for stealing a car on the same day, April 16, when the FIR was lodged on Srivastava's complaint.
Sharma was later taken into the custody of the Delhi Police and during his interrogation he revealed the details of his criminal activities, police said.
According to the police, Sharma earlier worked in petty capacities with some reputed packers and movers in Bengaluru and had learnt the tricks of the trade.
He also understood how online local search engines operate, it said.
After returning to Delhi, he had struck a deal with some unscrupulous employees of sub-regional vendors who received information from search engines about online queries seeking services, it also said.
Once Sharma got the details of his target from his contacts, he would get fake bills, vouchers and brochures printed to suit and convince the potential victim and would also offer them lower and competitive prices.
Unsuspecting, the victims would be fooled into paying him money as well as delivering their house hold articles, to be lost forever, police said.
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