Man, 4 others held for duping several people in Punjab's Hoshiarpur

A man has been arrested along with his four accomplices for allegedly duping several people after taking money from them by promising them jobs in the police department, officials said on Saturday.

A 32-bore pistol, counterfeit identity cards of the Punjab Police, a sports utility vehicle and three police uniforms have been seized from the accused, they said.

Superintendent of Police (Investigation) Sarabjit Singh Bahia said that the main accused in this case was identified as Rajiv Kumar alias Chhotu Pehalwan of Jangala village.

The others were identified as Ajay Banwala of Kaithal in Haryana, Harjinder Singh alias Honey of Khairabad village, Jarnail Singh alias Kaila of Khun-Khun Sarki village and Sanjeev Kumar of Raili village, he added.

Bahia said that Rajiv's SUV was discovered near Ballagan village in the Dasuya subdivision on Friday.

It was found during examination that the rear glass of the SUV was broken and several bullet marks were present on the vehicle, he added.

The preliminary investigation, according to police, revealed that Rajiv Kumar, the owner of the bullet-riddled SUV, is a wrestler who runs an 'akhara' in his village, attracting enthusiasts from the local area and Haryana.

It further came to light that Rajiv, who allegedly had fake police identity cards, would impersonate a high-ranking police official in the Punjab Police and also used to wear a police uniform, police said.

The investigation revealed that Rajiv, along with the other accused, allegedly duped around 20 people by promising them employment in the sports wing of the Punjab Police, they said.

He had even called all the victims to Jalandhar to hand them fake appointment letters during a function of the Republic Day celebrations there, police said.

In order to hoodwink them, Rajiv orchestrated a drama of shooting his SUV and then abandoned it near Ballagan village, they said.

Further investigation into the matter is underway, police said.