16 minutes agoAuthor: Rajesh Sahu
“Give me 100 rupees and hold this packet of incense sticks. It has a coupon. Open it and you will get double the amount written. Two people nearby opened it. Both had 400-400 written in the coupon. The boys sitting at the shop Gave 800-800 to both of them. I also took the coupon. I got 5 rupees. The second coupon also got 5 rupees. The boy asked to leave after giving 10-10 rupees both times.”
This business of cheating is not happening anywhere else, but at Charbagh railway station in Lucknow. When Bhaskar got the information, he did a sting. The revelations made are surprising. How did the sting happen? How were they caught and taken to the police? What did the police say? Let’s know everything in a sequential manner…
Fraud cart just 20 meters away from the police
There is a railway station, bus stand and metro station within 400 meters of Charbagh. That’s why it is always crowded here. The number of new people coming to Lucknow is maximum here. In such a situation, this is the best place for thugs to cheat. On exiting from the broad line of the railway station, you will see the Charbagh Naka police post on the right side. Just 20 meters away from it, a shop is visible on the handcart. Loudspeaker, buffer and bluetooth are placed on it, but these are not for sale, but just for show.
We had received input that this shop is being cheated in the name of lottery. So we reached at 8 in the morning. Kept myself and my dress in such a way that they thought I had come from the village. Took the bag in hand. A fellow stationed on the foot bridge with the camera. The other fellow was running the camera behind me posing as a stranger. We reached in front of the shop.
Counterfeit items in incense sticks
A boy of about 20 years sitting at the shop says, “Let’s move from here.” We said, “Take the speaker.” He said, “No speaker is available here. Go ahead and take it.” We stood and started watching. Then a person from the same group of thugs came behind me and while giving 100 rupees said, give a coupon. He gave a packet of incense sticks named Gulab Scent Batti.
In which there was a yellow colored coupon. He tore the foil and took out the coupon. 400 rupees were written in it. The boy sitting at the shop took the coupon and gave 800 rupees, double of 400 to that person. That person left.
The boy seen in yellow shirt is from the group of thugs. 400 rupees came out in his coupon.
Claims to earn Rs 800 on every Rs 100
We told the boy, “Can I also withdraw 400 rupees like this?” His answer was everyone’s exit, “Yours will also exit.” The thug standing nearby became active. He came and told me that yesterday I had won 2000 rupees, the day before yesterday I had won 1000 rupees. After this he took a coupon in front of me. He got 400 rupees and went away with 800 rupees.
We bought a packet of Gulab incense sticks by paying Rs 100, which had a prize coupon. When I tore the packet, the coupon that came out had Rs.5 written in it. The boy handed me 10 rupees. We took another coupon giving 100 rupees again.
Tore it again but only 5 rupees came out in that too and he handed over 10 rupees to me. After this a boy standing nearby said, “Today is not your day. Now just get out of here.” I just stood there. The person standing at the armpit belt shop came up to me and said, “Let’s get out of here. Yours is done.
A total of 10 to 12 people are involved in this fraud. In this, 4 customers stand around the shop. The rest look for customers at the station-bus stand. The people of the group become active as soon as the customer comes to the shop.
Unaware of the business of fraud, the next post
When we were duped, we reached the Naka police post just 20 meters away. A PRD soldier was found there. When we asked about the outpost in-charge, we got the answer, Amarjit Chaurasia must have come soon. We called the outpost in-charge and told about the fraud.
He came from the police station to the outpost within 15 minutes. We reached the shop with constable Manish present at the outpost. The rest of the thugs who became customers had fled from there. The police caught the boy and brought him inside the post. Along with this, 53 coupons kept at the shop were also seized.
Police seized 53 packets of coupons. In all the coupons were of Rs.5 only.
The boy was searched. He told his name as Shahil and his address as Katra of Shahjahanpur. In front of the police, he said that I did not start all this on my own. Rather I get 300 rupees a day. After this, a person named Sheru, who runs a belt and purse shop, was called by the police. This person is the master mind of this whole fraud. At first talked to Battamiji, but when he came to know that we are journalists of Bhaskar, then his face changed. Police sent Shahil to Naka police station.
Chowki in-charge Amardeep Chaurasia said, “We are against crime. Our posting was done here 20 days back from Transport Nagar. We had no prior knowledge about this fraud. Now this business will not be allowed to happen here. On the accused Will take action by registering a case.”
At present, this game of cheating raises questions on the police administration. Because there is a distance of only 20 meters between the place of thug and the police post. In the inputs we received about the thugs, it was also mentioned that the thugs used to pay the police a month’s money and themselves earn Rs 10 to 12 thousand per day.
This was the investigation of cheating. We had made an investigation report on sex workers from the same Charbagh metro station two months back. Can read here.
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