‘Your son is under arrest’: Old Delhi jewellery hub faces new scam

The Kucha Mahajani at Chandni Chowk on Monday.

Just as Naval Khandelwal, 57, was about to doze off on February 7 night, he received a phone call that shook him out of his slumber. The caller, who identified himself as a police inspector from Delhi’s Sadar Bazar police station, told Khandelwal – a jeweller in old Delhi’s Chandni Chowk – that his 30-year-old son had been arrested for alleged rape.

“We are lodging an FIR. Do you want to see your son, or should we throw him behind bars?” thundered the caller on the phone at 10.30pm. A shocked Khandelwal demanded to see his son, and was told that the caller would set him free for ₹12 lakh.

Three days later, on February 10, Ashish Singhal, a jeweller in Kucha Mahajani received a similar call with a demand of ₹10 lakh; as did jeweller Pappu Agra on February 14; and Bishan Singh, another jeweller, on March 21.

“I did think I was being scammed but I was also afraid. What if my son was in danger,” said Khandelwal.

That night, Khandelwal and his wife called their son at least 10 times. “He was in Jaipur at the time for work and we had been in touch via the family WhatsApp group, but he didn’t take our calls,” said Khandelwal, who has been in the jewellery business for over 20 years.

Their relatives advised them against paying the caller, and they were in two minds what to do. Then, at 11pm, Khandelwal’s phone rang again. This time, it was his son. “He told us he was busy at work, and that’s why he missed our calls. He was not in Delhi and had not been arrested. It was a scam. I was relieved to hear all this but I was also rattled. What if my son hadn’t called back? I would have paid the money,” the jeweller told HT. A day later, on February 8, he submitted a written complaint to the district cyber police station. Since December last year, police have received at least eight such complaints – seven of then from jewellers in old Delhi. But, so far, no arrests have been made.

Some jewellers managed to catch the con, but others succumbed to it.

Police said they received multiple complaints from across Delhi, adding that at least 10 people were cheated over the past year.

“Each complainant lost between ₹50,000 and ₹5 lakh,” said the officer cited above.

However, people who fell prey to the con refrained from revealing details of the crime,

Police said they have compiled complaints by Khandelwal and six others and filed one FIR under sections pertaining to cheating in the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

“We have tried to trace the mobile numbers of the callers, but they are now inactive,” said a police officer, who asked to not be named.

In Old Delhi, this scam has the area’s jewellers and the local police rattled. A second investigator from the Delhi police cyber cell, who asked not to be named, told HT, “It’s a well-planned scam. The suspects take details of ‘influential’ and ‘old’ jewellers in Chandni Chowk from the internet and call them late at night or early morning posing as cops. In some cases, the children of the victims live outside or perhaps don’t take their call in one go. Meanwhile, the scammers bombard them with calls, giving them little time to think… And get the money.”

Less than a kilometre away from Khandelwal’s shop in Old Delhi is Shri Krishna Jewellers that 62-year-old Pappu Agra has been running for over 10 years. Early February 14 morning, a week after Khandelwal received the call, Agra’s phone rang. It was the same drill – son in custody, accused of murder.

“My son was seated next to me, and the caller asked me to visit Kotwali police station to identify him. I just laughed,” said Agra. On February 15, he submitted a complaint to the district’s cyber police station.

The Delhi Bullion and Jewellers Association (DBJA), which has over 30 members, sensed a pattern and submitted a complaint to the office of deputy commissioner of police (DCP) North on February 17.

Yogesh Singhal, chairman of DBJA, said: “We have alerted all the traders and jewellers in the area to be careful. We are in touch with DCP Manoj Meena and other senior officers. We hope no other jeweller is targeted.”

Such was the fear that the association also sent Instagram and WhatsApp alerts to their members. “To all jewellers of Kucha Mahajani and members of bullion and jewellers association, please don’t fall prey to calls from strangers who pose as cops. They will tell you they have arrested your son and will demand money. Don’t listen to them…Thank you,” read the message, seen by HT.

Within days of Khandelwal receiving the call, word had anyway spread in the lanes of Chandni Chowk that scammers was on the prowl.

On February 10 at 10.30pm, Ashish Singhal (45), a jeweller in Kucha Mahajani, got a call from a man posing as a sub-inspector with the Delhi police. “The caller said that my brother had been arrested in a rape case in Gurugram. I almost fainted,” he recalled, and claimed that the “cop” threatened him and asked for ₹10 lakh.

“I was about to send the money but my friend, also a jeweller, told me it was a scam,” Singhal told HT. He submitted a complaint the next day.

Laxmi Chand Chawla (62) wasn’t as lucky. On December 26 last year, the Karol Bagh-based jeweller received three calls at 9am from men who claimed to have “arrested” his nephew in a murder case.

“The callers threatened to hurt him and demanded ₹50,000. At first, I didn’t believe them but then I heard a man scream in the background, and assumed it was my nephew. My wife and I called him and other relatives, but nobody picked up our calls,” recalled Chawla.

Within minutes, the men called again, and Chawla panicked and transferred ₹50,000 via Paytm. “A bit later, my nephew told me he was asleep at home,” he said. A week later, he submitted a complaint.

An investigation into the cases has revealed that the accused use photos of police officers from Delhi, Haryana and Punjab. “We have found photos of inspectors, ACPs and DCPs as WhatsApp display photos of the accused,” said the second officer.

So far, police haven’t been able to zero in on any gangs and/or individuals involved in the crime. DCP (North) Manoj Meena told HT, “The cases are recent and many of the accused are not based in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). We are tracing the locations using the numbers, but the accused are smart, and they discard the SIM cards within a few days. In a few cases, we have identified the suspects and will arrest them soon.”

Police said the accused get SIM cards issued via fake IDs or with the help of IDs of people who are not involved in the scam at all. “We have been able to find the person but can’t arrest him or her as they don’t know anything about the scam,” said the first officer.

Meanwhile, both the jewellers’ association and the police are trying to spread awareness about this new scam. “Even my uncle (not a jeweller) received a similar call. It was a scam,” said DCP Meena.

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