Borrowed Rs 7cr, invested, couldn’t withdraw: How Rs 8cr online fraud by ‘wealth managers’ drove retired Punjab IG to shoot himself

PATIALA: An FIR was filed on Tuesday in connection with a Rs 8 crore online fraud that allegedly drove retired Punjab IG Amar Singh Chahal to attempt suicide a day earlier.

Chahal allegedly shot himself on Monday with a licensed revolver of his IRB gunman at his residence in Patiala, sustaining a chest wound. After undergoing surgery at a private hospital, he is now stable and out of danger, police said.


SSP Varun Sharma said the case was registered against unidentified persons under relevant sections of BNS relating to impersonation, cheating and forgery, along with provisions of IT Act, after recording the statements of Chahal's wife, son and daughter-in-law.

The FIR was based on a complaint lodged by Chahal's wife. The former IG, according to cops, had not lodged any complaint with police regarding the fraud.

Police had on Monday found a 12-page handwritten note addressed to Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav at Chahal's house. The note detailed his distress over a Rs 8.1 crore loss to scammers posing as wealth managers via WhatsApp and Telegram groups named 'F-777 DBS Wealth Equity Research Group'.

Police said around 25 bank accounts mentioned in the note had been frozen, wh-ile the money trail was being probed. Cops are examining the digital evidence.

Sources said a few days ago, Chahal had met a recently retired Patiala DIG and appeared depressed.

In his note, Chahal described the perpetrators as "sophisticated scammers" who lured him with promises of high stock trading returns and fake profit dashboards. The scammers allegedly built trust using initial fake gains, before pressuring larger investments through multiple bank accounts and demanding additional taxes and fees that blocked his ability to withdraw funds.

Chahal borrowed funds of around Rs 7 crore from friends and family, investing around Rs 1 crore through three banks from Oct. In the note, he demanded an investigation by an SIT or CBI, and apologised to his family.



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