This story is from August 18, 2019

How a Bihar constable duped fellow cops of Rs 4 crore

How a Bihar constable duped fellow cops of Rs 4 crore
Sunil Kumar is interrogated by city DSP at Bhagalpur
PATNA/BHAGALPUR: Cases of scamsters who dupe people promising to double their money are dime-a-dozen, but what if the culprit and his victims are both cops?
Natwarlal, the legendary conman from Bihar whose exploits have passed into folklore in the state, would have been proud of police constable Sunil Kumar ,30, who is accused of duping at least 60 fellow cops of over Rs 4 crore.

A team of around 100 police personnel and civilians worked day and night for over a month to corner Kumar — already designated the new “Natwarlal of Bihar”. He was arrested from Ara in Bhojpur district late on Friday night wherehe was hiding in the house of a relative.
Bhagalpur SSP Ashish Bharti said on Saturday, “The constable was on the run ever since an FIR was lodged with the Ishakchak police station of the district on July 10 this year. The special police team finally traced him to Bhojpur district’s Nawada police station area and arrested him with the help of the local police.”
The SHO of Ishakchak police station Sanjay Kumar Sudhanshu said, “Around 50 policemen and an equal number of civilians worked day and night for over a month to trace the accused constable. Members of the cyber cell were also roped in to ascertain the whereabouts of the accused as he was not only frequently changing his mobile numbers but also his locations.”
Rajesh Kumar, a constable of the Bhagalpur district police, had lodged an FIR on July 10 this year alleging that Sunil took Rs 5 lakh from him promising to double the amount. It was only later that he got to now that Sunil had duped around 60 policemen, including sub-inspectors, assistant sub-inspectors and constables from the district alone.

SHO Sudhnashu said, “So far 60 complaints from Bhagalpur and Naugachhia have been received against the arrested constable, who has been accused of duping them of Rs 4 crore. The amount may increase in the course of investigation. He was operating in the district for the past five years and so. Details of Sunil’s bank accounts were being collected.”
Sunil had joined the police force in 2011. His modus operandi was simple. He took money from his colleagues on assurances that he would pay double the amount in a year. He used to invest the money in share market and real estate, officials associated with the investigation told TOI over phone from Bhagalpur.
On some occasions, he took money from his colleagues in the name of treatment of his ailing parents, wife and children. “Nobody could suspect him (Sunil) as he was in the department in which the victims also served. The matter came to fore when he became incommunicado for long,” said an investigating officer.
Police said Sunil hailed from Digha village under Dhangai police station in Bhojpur district but was hiding in his relative’s house at Bahiro village under Nawada police station in Ara town. “The police team raided the house and arrested him,” the Nawada SHO said.
Sunil was produced in Bhagalpur court on Saturday and was remanded in judicial custody for 14 days at Bhagalpur central jail. The news about conman’s arrest spread like wild fire in Bhagalpuron Saturday.
Local residents and cops gathered at the police station when he was being taken to court. “Earlier he used to handcuff others. Today he was handcuffed by his colleagues for the criminal offence,” said a Bhagalpur resident.
Disciplinary action was taken against some cops by the Bhagalpur SSP Bharti for falling prey to the conman. In fact, Sunil, who was posted at Women’s police station in Bhagalpur from 2014 to 2018, had proceeded on unauthorized leave about two years ago. Subsequently he was put under suspension and departmental proceedings were initiated.
Sunil, however, declared himself bankrupt. “Whatever money I had taken from cops lost in share market,” he told reporters in the Bhagalpur court where he was produced after his arrest from Bhojpur.
(With inputs from Praveen in Ara)
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