Delhi man duped Amazon: Ordered 166 phones and claimed refunds

News Network
October 11, 2017

New Delhi, Oct 11:  A 21-year-old who bought over 166 expensive mobile phones from online store Amazon in Delhi and got refunds running into lakhs of rupees after claiming that he had received an empty box has been arrested, the police said.

The police said Shivam Chopra, 21, had made nearly Rs. 50 lakh between April and May this year before Amazon realized that they were being conned and complained to the police.

Shivam Chopra had done a course in hotel management from an institute in north Delhi's Rohini and had tried his hand at some jobs. But he wasn't good at keeping them and had ended up without a job. In March this year, he came up with this idea and ordered two phones as a test case. He asked for a refund, and got it.

For the next two months, he made a business out of it, ordering Apple, Samsung and OnePlus mobile phones.

He would sell the phones either on another online marketplace OLX or Gaffar market, a west Delhi market for mobiles and other imported goods that was counted by the US Trade Representative as one of the world's "notorious markets" in global piracy in 2014.

Sachin Jain, 38, a small telecom store owner near his house who had supplied more than a 141 pre-activated SIM cards to Shivam Chopra to let him place the orders in different names, has also been arrested. He would charge Rs. 150 for each number.

A resident of Tri Nagar in north-west Delhi, Shivam Chopra used these phone numbers to place orders and would give an incorrect address in the locality. When Amazon's delivery associate could not locate the house, he would invariably call on the registered phone number of the account that he was using.

He would then guide him to somewhere close to his current address in the locality, take the delivery. Later, he would call up to complain that the box was empty and get a refund.

"This was repeated for all 166 orders that were placed by the perpetrator," senior police officer Milind Mahadeo Dumbere said.

19 mobile phones, 12 lakhs in cash and 40 bank passbooks and cheques have been seized from the home of the graduate from a north Delhi institute for hotel management. Apart from the money in the bank, he had also kept Rs. 10 lakh with someone for safekeeping.

The north-west district police chief said the police were able to locate the young man this month after months of investigation during which they narrowed down the locality where he probably lived.

Last year, the Hyderabad police had arrested two persons who would tactfully open the seal of the packet while the delivery associate was waiting for payment at their doorsteps, replace the item with sand and reject the item to online retailers such as Amazon and Flipkart. There have been other cases where customers have allegedly replaced the items ordered with similar products of poor quality.

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Agencies
July 2,2020

Tuticorin, Jul 2: The Crime Branch-Crime Investigation Department (CBCID) of Tamil Nadu police have arrested five policemen working in Sathankulam police station in Tuticorin district for the murder of P. Jeyaraj and his son J. Bennicks, officials said.

The CBCID also altered the first information report (FIR) registered on the death of Jeyaraj and Bennicks as a murder case from the earlier charge of suspicious death.

The five arrested policemen are: Inspector Sridhar, Sub-Inspectors Balakrishnan and Raghu Ganesh, Head Constable Murugan and Constable Muthuraj.

Ganesh was remanded to custody till July 16 on late Wednesday.

According to Inspector General CBCID Shankar, 12 teams have been formed to carry out the probe into the custodial death of father and son Jeyaraj and Bennicks.

Jeyaraj and Bennicks had been booked for not closing their mobile shop in time on June 19 by the Sathankulam police. They were sent to judicial custody and lodged in Kovilpatti jail on June 21.

Jeyaraj died on June 22 night and Bennicks on June 23 morning in judicial custody, allegedly due to the police torture.

The Madras High Court Bench in Madurai which took up the case suo moto had said there was prima facie evidence to register a murder case against the Sathankulam police officials.

The Kovilpatti Judicial Magistrate M.S. Bharathidasan who was asked to inquire into the case of brutal torture of AJeyaraj and his son Bennicks by the Sathankulam police on June 19 and their subsequent deaths had submitted is report to the High Court.

A woman police constable Revathy, at the Sathankulam police station, in her deposition before Bharathidasan had said that Jeyaraj and Bennicks were beaten with batons throughout the June 19 night.

According to Bharathidasan's report, Revathy also said the victims' blood stains were on the batons of the station police officials and on tables.

She said the batons and the tables should be secured so that the evidence is not lost, the report stated.

Expressing fear that she may be targeted later, Revathy was initially reluctant to sign a printout of her statement but later on being assured of her safety she signed the document.

The court also transferred the probe into the deaths of Jeyaraj and Bennicks to the Crime Branch Crime Investigation Department (CBCID) to gather and protect the evidence till the case is handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The High Court has initiated criminal contempt cases against three police officials - Additional Superintendent of Police Kumar, Deputy Superintendent of Police Prathapan and constable Maharajan - for their behaviour at the Sathankulam police station in front of Magistrate Bharathidasan.

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Agencies
February 6,2020

Akhil Bhartiya Hindu Mahasabha President Ranjit Bachchan was shot dead on Sunday because of an extra-marital relationship of his second wife.

Lucknow Police Commissioner Sujit Pandey said at a press conference here on Thursday that Ranjit Bachchan's second wife Smriti Srivastava, her paramour Dipendra and driver Sanjit Gautam have been arrested in connection with the case. All three were held on Thursday, while the shooter -- Jitendra -- is yet to be arrested.

Pandey said that Smriti wanted a divorce from Ranjit Bachchan and their case was pending in the family court since 2016. While she was keen to marry Dipendra, Ranjit Bachchan was unwilling to leave her.

"On January 17, Ranjit had met Smriti and even slapped her, which became the provocation for the murder," he said.

The Police Commissioner said that during investigation, the police had probed all possible angles, including a terror angle.

"We found there were no financial disputes, no property disputes and no terror angle to the case. It emerged that Smriti had an affair with Dipendra and wanted to leave Ranjit Bachchan, who had four criminal cases against him. Through technical and electronic surveillance, we found the connection between Smriti, Dipendra, driver Sanjit and the shooter Jitendra," he said.

Ranjeet Bachchan, 40, who had founded the Vishwa Hindu Mahasabha, was shot in the head on Sunday morning while his brother Aditya Srivastava was injured in the attack by the assailant who also snatched their mobile phones.

The attacker had covered himself in a shawl and was on foot. The police had released CCTV footages showing a suspect and announced a cash reward of Rs 50,000 for providing information.

Four police personnel, including a sub-inspector, were suspended for alleged laxity and a case was registered at the Hazratganj po

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News Network
January 17,2020

Jan 17: Police have busted a "high- profile" sex racket operating in a three-star hotel in suburban Andheri and arrested a 29-year-old woman and rescued three female artists, including a minor, an official said on Thursday.

The Social Service (SS) branch of the city police conducted the raid at the hotel at Andheri East on Thursday, the official said.

"During the raid, three females, including a minor, were found to have been forced into prostitution. They were rescued and a woman, identified as Priya Sharma, who was operating the racket, was arrested," he said.

"Sharma was running tours and travel agency in Kandivali East. However, she was involved in immoral activities," senior inspector of SS branch, Sandesh Revale, said.

While one of the rescued is a woman actor and singer, who has worked in 'Savdhaan India' TV crime show, he said, another one has worked in a Marathi movie and serials.

The minor has worked in a web series, Revale added.

The offence was being registered against Sharma, he said.

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