HEALTHYWAY FRAUD

Principal’s son held for seeking Rs 1.5 cr  Posed as judge’s son, offered to get case ‘settled’

Chandigarh, August 28
The police on Sunday arrested Munish Bhardwaj, 30, son of the principal of Hans Raj Mahila Mahavidyalaya College, Jalandhar, Rekha Bhardwaj, for allegedly demanding Rs 1.5 crore from the family of Amit Kakkar, the prime suspect in the Healthyway Immigration fraud. Posing as “middlemen” between the police and the judiciary Bhardwaj, along with his accomplice Gurinder Singh, asked for the money to “settle” the case.
According to the police, Bhardwaj told Amit’s relatives his father was a “judge”. Ravi Kakkar, Amit’s father, then reported the matter to the police following which a trap was laid at a coffee joint in Sector 11 on Sunday. Bhardwaj and Gurinder came there in a Škoda car with fake registration plates to collect Rs 70 lakh according to the deal struck earlier. The cops were able to nab Bhardwaj but Gurinder managed to flee as he did not enter the coffee shop. A case of cheating under section 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act has been filed against the two. Deputy police superintendent (SIT) Anil Joshi said Bhardwaj, a Panjab University law graduate who works in state-owned telecom utility Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd in Patiala, had met Ravi Kakkar on August 17, four days after Amit was apprehended. “The two met Amit’s father several times and took Rs 50,000 from him on August 21. Bhardwaj later demanded another Rs 1.5 crore and told Kakkar his father was a judge,” said Joshi. Bhardwaj’s father is an official in HDFC Bank in Jalandhar.
The police has seized the Škoda bearing fake license plates, which was being used by the suspects. Bhardwaj told the cops Gurinder was a property dealer and efforts are on to arrest him.aAmit is in police custody for allegedly duping scores of people on false promises of sending them abroad for jobs.
Source: TNS