A Birati resident lost ₹24 lakh of his savings after a man allegedly promised him lucrative returns, a high “joining bonus” and multiple foreign trips every year if he invested in a company where he is a “partner”.

Mrinmoy Pal was arrested early on Tuesday from Uttar Pradesh by a joint team from the airport police station and Uttar Pradesh police based on a complaint lodged by the victim and his wife, a senior officer of Bidhannagar Commissionerate said.

He was produced before a court in Uttar Pradesh and brought to the city on a transit remand.

According to the officer, the Birati resident had lodged a complaint with the airport police station in June after which the cops started a probe.

The victim had got in touch with Pal who even had an office near Birati a few months back, an officer said.

Pal had introduced himself as a partner of “Aimstar Innovative Multiservices — an information technology-enabled service (ITES) company” that has operations in “several foreign countries” to the victim.

Pal had lured the man to invest in his “company” by promising him a high one-time joining bonus, lucrative returns on his investment and trips to at least a couple of foreign countries every year, the officer added.

Convinced the man had transferred ₹24 lakh in multiple installments online to the account numbers provided by the Pal.

“To gain his trust, Pal had even handed the cheque for the joining bonus to the man. However, when he deposited it to the bank the cheque bounced,” said the officer.

Later, both the victim and his wife made repeated attempts to connect with Pal. They even visited his office multiple times, the officer added.

However, Pal had switched off his cellphone numbers and his office was under lock and key.

Realising that he had been duped, the victim lodged a police complaint. The
cops started an investigation and mounted electronic surveillance on his cellphone numbers.

“We managed to track down Pal in Uttar Pradesh. Once we zeroed in on his location, we sent a team to arrest him. We are trying to recover the money that the victim has lost,” said the officer.

Multiple cellphones and a laptop have been seized from Pal.

The police are trying to track down where he has parked the money that he had taken from the man.