Man held for cheating doctor of Rs 1.4 crore

: A 57-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly cheating a doctor here to the tune of Rs 1.4 croreby promising him to secure orders under a Central government scheme for supply of agricultural farm inputs to the West Bengal government, police said on Thursday.

The man and other absconding accused allegedly cheated the cardiovascular-thoracic surgeon on the pretext of offering profits in their business of supplying farm inputs and made him believe that they have secured orders to supply the farm inputs, the police said.

The accusedcreated two fake orders in the name of top officials of the agriculture and horticulture departments of West Bengal government by forging their signatures, a press release from the police said.

Later, he gave photocopies of the letters to the complainant and made him believe the letters were genuine and that they have obtained orders for the supply of farm inputs under a central government scheme and collected an amount of Rs 1.40 crore in 2017 and absconded, an investigation official said.

In June 2019, the victim lodged a complaint with police here after which a case on charge of cheating and forgery was registered and during the course of investigation the accused was apprehended at Secunderabad on Wednesday, the official said.

The fabricated and forged letters have been seized from the accused, he said.

Based on the investigation done so far, it was revealed that the arrested accused had cheated several people in a similar manner, the release said.