Three cheats held in Punjab

JALANDHAR - Three people have been arrested in Punjab for running a bogus finance company that duped scores of people here, police said Sunday.

Those arrested were identified as Shakti Arora, Rakesh Arora and Sunny Mahindru, all from Punjab. Two other accused, Dharmender Singh and Vishal, were still at large, police said.

According to police, the accused charged money from gullible people on the pretext of arranging bank loans or getting mobile phone towers installed on their premises.

The gang was running eight finance companies from Jalandhar. We have found hundreds of files of loan applicants or those seeking installation of mobile phone towers on their premises, said Rajpal Singh Sandhu, additional deputy commissioner of police, Jalandhar, around 150 km from the state capital Chandigarh.

“They were charging processing fees ranging from Rs.5.000-Rs.20,000 from loan applicants. They also have links in different parts of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan, he said.