Australian doctor honey-trapped, looted

BENGALURU: A 72-year-old Indian doctor based in Australia fell into a honey trap laid by a city-based woman and got cheated of over Rs 50 lakh, after getting trapped in a web of lies and forgery.

It all began in 2011 when a woman, identified as Tahseen Sultana alias Komal Sultana alias Preeti Thakur, approached Dr Prem Nanda, offering him cheap call rates from Australia to India. The woman also used to offer various schemes to invest to the NRI clients in India and hence kept in touch with the doctor. During the course of their regular calls, she pretended to fall for the doctor and even proposed to marry him. She persuaded him to come to Bengaluru and invest in real estate.

Dr Nanda came to the city so that Tahseen could show him some properties in Electronics City. “She invited me to come to India and buy properties as she had started her own business under name ‘R.K. Properties' along with her partner named Balkaran Singh. Hence in 2011 I came to Bengaluru on her invitation to see some properties, as I was keen on investing in India. I was received by her at the airport and she had booked a room in a hotel in her and my name and stayed with me till the time I purchased a residential property from one Prabhavati Builders in Electronics City.”

He further said, “During my stay in the city, I was not allowed to meet anyone and barred to compare the property rates with other property dealers. After showing me four residential sites which initially looked okay to me, she asked for General Power of Attorney to be made on her name in order to get the property registered, collect copies of agreement of sale from stamp registrar’s office and collect lease rent of property by renting out, to which I complied. Also, before leaving for Australia after making all the payments through cheque I gave Rs 3 lakh to her to deposit for investment purpose with ICICI Prudential,” he said the complaint.

Dr Nanda was in for a rude shock when he learnt that Rs 3 lakh in cash given to her was not credited into his account and she had deposited in her own account. Upon enquiring further, Dr Nanda learnt that the accused woman along with her accomplice Balkaran Singh had purchased three more properties, without his consent, in his name. The rent of each property, which would amount from Rs 10,000 to 12,000, was not deposited in his account.

On June 19, 2015, Dr Nanda along with his friend Dr Surendra Kapoor, a Mumbai based doctor, met the woman in Woody’s Restaurant and demanded that she show the properties and hand over the original papers to them. She along with her accomplice Balkaran Singh allegedly threatened to kill Surendra Kapoor and blackmailed Nanda that she will file a false case of rape against him in the police station. She even boasted that she was closely associated with senior police officers.

Upon checking with the bank, Dr Nanda also learnt that Tahseen, along with another woman Vidya said to be working with ICICI, forged the documents and his account details.

The amount which was wrongfully transferred into Tahseen's account had her cousin and father as beneficiaries.

It also came to light that Tahseen has also misled Andhra Bank and cheated them during the sale of property and a bank employee had connived with her.

Both the doctors then decided to approach the police and lodged a case against the two in J.P. Nagar police station, but even after trying for two days they were turned away.

After a hopeless wait of five long months to file an FIR with the Bengaluru police, the victim lodged a complaint with the Indian High Commission at Australia in July.

“First we met the secretary of the then Commissioner of Police M.N. Reddi. She arranged a meeting with the Joint Commissioner Chander Shekhar, who called the area police station and directed us to register complaint at the J.P. Nagar police station, said Dr Surendra Kapoor.

“When we went to the J.P. Nagar police station, the sub-inspector on duty asked us to wait for Mr Mahajan, police station in-charge. We waited at the police station for the entire day, but no FIR was registered and the police attempts to call the accused also went in vain.

“Two months ago, I again visited Bengaluru and had a meeting with the Joint Commissioner (Crime). He called up the Deputy Commissioner and asked him to attend to the matter. As directed by him, I went to the J.P. Nagar police station. But, as the police station in-charge read my complaint, he questioned me on different sections under the IPC. Then, he referred the matter to the constable who showed reluctance to give a receipt or FIR copy, and returned my complaint. Every record of my visit to J.P. Nagar police station can be provided along with copies of mail to cyber cell. It is disheartening to see still police have taken no action till now, nor registered FIR,” said Dr Surendra Kapoor.