6 arrested in Jamtara for defrauding retired railway employee over sale of house

Jamtara, Sep 30 (PTI) Six people were arrested in Jharkhand's Jamtara district for allegedly defrauding a retired railway employee of Rs 89 lakh in the name of selling a house, police said on Tuesday.

SP Rajkumar Mehta said Mukesh Rawani, a resident of Chitra in Deoghar district, was looking to buy a house in Jamtara and came across a property near the railway station.

One Sameer Sarkar, who has been residing in Kolkata for several years, owns the house. However, some fraudsters posing as the owner approached Rawani, he said.

"Rawani had transferred Rs 89 lakh to the fraudsters, who then started dilly-dallying over registering the property. Rawani then lodged a police complaint, following which an investigation was started," he added.

Those arrested were identified as Ghanshyam Mahato, Vikram Mahato, Panchananda Das, Tumpa Sarkhel, Parimal Bauri and Jisu Sarkar.

"Ghanshyam and Vikram acted as middlemen and scripted the entire fraud. Panchananda was made the owner of the house. Parimal Bauri and Tumpa Sarkhel acted as his son and daughter-in-law, while Jisu was introduced as the grandson," the SP said.

Rawani transferred Rs 84 lakh to Tumpa's account and Rs 5 lakh to Jisu's account.

"The accused divided the money among themselves. Panchananda received Rs 15.75 lakh, Ghanshyam received Rs 27.76 lakh, Vikram got Rs 5.85 lakh, and Parimal received Rs 5.60 lakh," the officer said. PTI ANB SOM