Man posing as Army officer dupes couple of Rs 17 lakh, held

Posing as an army Captain, a man duped a couple of Rs 17 lakh on the pretext of helping him secure a home loan.

The police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) arrested the accused, who has been identified as Sagar Guleria, from near Suraj Theatre in Sector 1.

According to the complaint filed by Manpreet Kaur, wife of Satpal Singh (serving as a Naik in West Bengal), she and her husband had opened a joint account in Punjab back in 2010.

During Satpal Singh’s posting at Chandimandir in 2024, he required a home loan. At the time, a colleague named Surmukh Singh introduced him to Sagar, who claimed to be serving as a Captain in the army.

Sagar assured the couple that he had previously helped several army personnel secure personal loans. Gaining their trust, he took the necessary documents from Satpal and successfully got a home loan of Rs 17.5 lakh sanctioned on May 8, 2024. Under the pretense of arranging a subsidy on the loan, Sagar had the entire amount transferred to his own account.

As per the complainant, Sagar kept delaying the return of the funds after receiving them. During the investigation, it was revealed that Sagar was not an Army Captain, nor was he affiliated with the military in any way. In fact, he had already been declared an absconder.

Under the leadership of EOW in-charge Kamaljeet Singh, the police arrested the accused, who is a resident of Ujala Nagar, Jalandha.

A case has been registered against him at the Chandimandir Police Station under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), and 471 (using a forged document as genuine) of the Indian Penal Code.

The accused was presented in court today and remanded to seven days of police custody.

Chandigarh