A 59-year-old man was allegedly duped of Rs 1.65 lakh by a woman wedding planner by using forged official letterhead of Ministry of Urban Development for allotment of a bunglow, police said today.
Atul Kumar Sood had planned to organise wedding of his 27-year-old daughter on April 30 and he began to look for an appropriate venue in December last year.
Sood, in his complaint to the police filed on August 30, said that during his search, he came across accused Ira Malik (35), whose contact number and job profile were mentioned on a website. Sood met her and a deal to organise the wedding was finalised for Rs five lakh and 10 per cent extra as Malik's share.
"In order to impress Sood, the accused then took him to various venues in the posh area of Lutyan Zone in the capital, where she showed him a variety of luxurious bungalows belonging to ministers.
"She assured him that she can arrange any of these bungalows of his choice for the wedding, citing her contacts with the ministers and leaders. At this, Sood chose the bungalow number-5 situated at Ashok Road, Delhi-110001, and the deal was finalised between both," police said.
Later, on the pretext of paying the fee for booking the bungalow and hiring florists, caterers and decorators, she took Rs 1,85,000 from Sood, saying she would soon give him a receipt of payment and official permission of booking the bungalow.
On January 13, she gave the letter of allotment issued by the Ministry of Urban Development showing the allotment of the bungalow number-5 in the name of Malik (the service provider).
However, afterwards when Sood tried to contact Malik, her phone was found to be switched off. He even visited her house but that was locked from outside.
"At this, Sood smelt a rat and went to the office of Ministry of Urban Development at Nirman Bhawan, where he was shocked to know that there was no booking has been done in the name of Sood," police said.
Despite several attempts, when Sood failed to locate her, he finally approached police.
The complainant said in the last five months, he came across some more persons who were duped by the accused, Malik on the same pretext and modus operandi. Police said they have initiated a manhunt and further investigations are underway.
