The ‘director’ of a company has been arrested for allegedly cheating an 86-year-old man of more than Rs 6 lakh with false promises of getting refunds for his lapsed insurance policies, police said.
The accused, Birju Barnewal, a resident of Narendrapur in South 24-Parganas, runs a call centre in Narayanpur of Rajarhat. An officer said Barnewal and his accomplices would call prospective ‘clients’ from the office with such offers.
The victim was promised that the company would fetch him over Rs 1 crore as refunds.
Narendranath Banerjee, a resident of Prince Anwar Shah Road in south Kolkata, lodged a complaint with the cyber crime police station in August after his father Ranendrnath received a call from a person who offered him a large sum as refunds from his lapsed insurance policies, an officer said.
According to the complaint, the caller had called Ranendrnath a number of times and asked him to transfer money as processing fees, documentation charges and refund charges, the police said.
“Ranendrnath paid him Rs 6.8 lakh in cash as well as through bank account transfers,” said the officer.
The police tracked down the bank account and found it linked to Globez Global Teleshopping Private Limited.
“We raided Barnewal’s house and arrested him. We are trying to track down the other members of his team,” said the officer.
Another officer said that there are several complaints lodged against Barnewal in different police stations across the state.
Barnewal has been charged under IPC sections 419 (cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating) and 406 (breach of trust). If convicted, he can be sentenced to jail for up to seven years.