‘Was threatened using Indian Army’s name’: Pune-based medical equipment supplier cheated of Rs 3.98 lakh

The 57-year-old supplier who stays in Bibwewadi and has his business establishment in Katraj registered a complaint regarding this at Bharati Vidyapeeth Police Station. The incident happened in December 2023.

As per the complaint, On June 6, he received a call on his cellphone from a person who identified himself as Rajiv Kumar Ranjan working with Military Hospital, Khadki.

“He told me that the firm needed two phototherapy machines urgently and if the equipment were found to the satisfaction of the doctors, 20 more would be ordered. He asked me to send a quotation for two different models of the machines,” the complainant said in the FIR.

When the complainant asked for the GST number, he was told that it would not be needed. “I was told that I was transacting with the Indian army and how could I not trust them. The profile picture for whatsapp for the number had army symbols,” said the complainant.

He said that the person then asked him to dispatch one of the machines and promised to make the payment immediately. The next morning, the machine was sent to the given address but ‘Rajiv Ranjan’ said that the payment for it would be made after creation of a payee account by the accounts department of the military establishment.

The conmen then told the supplier to open an account to pay for the purchase of the phototherapy machine and that he would be required to pay an amount of Rs 65,515 in the given bank account. Even after payment of the 65,515, the ‘person from the accounts department’ made multiple calls that day and the next day and forced the complainant to send to the ‘refund account’ two more sums – Rs 1,31,030 and RS 1,96,545.

“I was receiving repeated calls for the payment. They were threatening me and using terms such as Indian Army, Defence Services, Military Hospital, Blacklist. I was told that if I tried to cheat the Indian Army, I would pay a hefty price for it. This created immense pressure on me,” said the complainant in his complaint.

The complainant approached the cyber police station the next day. Following preliminary investigation, an FIR was registered with the Bharati Vidyapeeth Police Station on Police have booked unknown individuals for perpetrating fraud under sections 170, 34, 384, 419, 420 of Indian Penal Code and 66 C and D of Information Technology Act 2000.