'My Father Lost Rs 90 Lakh to a Scam. A Decade On, We're Still Awaiting Justice'

'My father was not only robbed of his entire life savings, but it ultimately cost him his life.'

"As a retired pensioner from a large public sector bank in New Delhi, I never imagined that my father, Prayag Raj Bhatia, would fall victim to a financial scam."

(Image altered by The Quint/Karman Akhtar)

As a retired pensioner from a large public sector bank in New Delhi, I never imagined that my father, Prayag Raj Bhatia, would fall victim to a financial scam that, I believe, not only robbed him of his life savings, but ultimately cost him his life.

Almost a decade ago, sometime in 2014, an investment agent approached my father to invest his savings for higher rate of returns. As a retired senior manager at a bank who had connections to such agents, it didn't seem unusual to me or to my two siblings.

He was 89 then, and like any parent, he wanted to leave a substantial inheritance for his three children. Despite enjoying a peaceful retired life in New Delhi's Model Town locality, he was drawn to the prospect of a guaranteed payout and high rate of returns after a lock-in period of 45 days.

Starting from mid-2014 till December 2015, my father invested over Rs 90 lakh, according to his bank statements. The investments were made by transferring money to 12 different companies through multiple transactions via cheques and bank transfers.

Copy of a cheque that PR Bhatia issued to Uni Value Services Pvt Ltd in December 2015.

(Document accessed by The Quint)

When the lock-in period was over, he started asking for his money, but he was told to wait for 27 more days. This went on for days – and later months.

In 2015, we first suspected something was wrong when our father reached out to us for financial help. He then told us that he had made some investments, and now to get his money back, he needed to pay a 'payment release fee'. By the end of it all, we gave him around Rs 26 lakh in multiple installments. He reassured us that everything would be fine, without sharing any more information.

'The Trauma of Dad's Passing and a Shocking Revelation'

As months passed, his health, already fragile due to age, deteriorated rapidly. By then, we realised he was in deep financial trouble. He suffered a heart attack – and we lost him in January 2016.

In the aftermath of his passing, our family was thrust into a nightmare we never saw coming. While still grieving, we started receiving extortion calls from a man who introduced himself as 'Ashwin Sharma'.

He made several calls to us, claiming that in order to release the investment made by our father, we needed to pay a fee of Rs 40,000. Otherwise, the entire investment would be lost, he said.

While we refused the payment, we tried tracing him for the money trail, but he couldn't be contacted again.

Months later, we managed to get access to my father's bank accounts once we completed the formalities of submitting his death certificate and other relevant documents. We were shocked to find out that the accounts that maintained sufficient bank balances were showing nil.

Between 2014 and 2015, a total of Rs 90,38,128, in multiple transactions, was transferred out from his bank account.

(The Quint has accessed PR Bhatia's bank statements to verify the said transactions.)

From his diary, mobile phone, and bank statements, we discovered that he had been persuaded to invest in several companies, including Prime Value Holidays Pvt Ltd, Union Value Services Pvt Ltd, Customer Service Card, Computer Services Corporation, RS Solutions, NOC Services, Spinsta Sources Ltd, Uni Value Services Pvt Ltd, and Way to Advisory Services Pvt Ltd, among others.

We tried reaching out to all these companies but to no avail. We even reached out to the banks of these companies where the money was transferred, but they couldn't help us.

(The Quint tried to contact each of these companies where PR Bhatia made investments, but the phone numbers were either switched off, non-existent, or reassigned to other individuals by the mobile operator.)

'Our Chase for the Money Trail'

Ultimately, expecting some help in the case, we registered a complaint in 2018 with the Model Town Police Station, but an FIR was not registered, citing "lack of evidence".

We were instead directed to the Cyber Crime Cell of Delhi Police. We registered the complaint there, too, and provided them with all bank transfer details. They, too, didn't register an FIR but assured us they would investigate the matter.

(The Quint reached out to the SHO of Model Town Police Station and the Cyber Crime Cell in New Delhi and shared a copy of the complaint. While the response from the Cyber Crime Cell is still awaited, the SHO of Model Town Police Station told The Quint that, since the matter is old, "the complaint may have been disposed". However, he added that they will "investigate the case based on a fresh complaint".)

'Protect Honest Senior Citizens'

It's been six years, and despite providing evidence of the transactions, the police have never properly investigated the matter, and we still have not been able to recover the money my father earned over his entire career.

Over the years, with our own resources, we have managed to dig out PAN cards and Aadhaar cards of the people behind these companies, but we have not been able to trace them. All we expect from the police is a proper investigation so we can recover what our father earned in his lifetime and punish the perpetrators who duped an elderly man who is no longer with us.

My father's story should serve as a stark reminder of the vulnerability of honest, hardworking senior citizens – and the need to protect them. The system that he trusted throughout his working life has failed to help him and his family in our hour of need.

What Cybersecurity Experts Told The Quint About This Case

Citing two challenges with this particular case, Dr Muktesh Chander, a retired IPS officer and cyber security expert, told The Quint, "First, the main victim (of the scam) has passed away, and second, a lot of time has passed. In any case, if a complaint is not filed within three hours of a suspected fraud, it becomes very difficult to recover the money or (trace) the people behind it. Three hours is called the golden period."

Explaining the modus operandi of such financial frauds, Dr Chander said that agents or criminals register fake companies using Aadhaar and PAN cards that don't belong to them, and then open bank accounts with a rented address.

"When the police try to trace them, they find that the perpetrators have already vacated the address, and the Aadhaar and PAN used to create the bank account belong to someone unaware of its existence."

Dr Muktesh Chander, retired IPS officer

Another cybersecurity expert, who spoke to The Quint on condition of anonymity, said,

"One of the biggest problems in cybercrime cases is the lack of registration by the police and the delay in taking action. The police need to understand that criminals divert the money as soon as it is transferred into their accounts. Forget about the investigation, they don't even register the case."

(Kiran Bhatia is a Delhi-based retired banker with a master's degree in economics. Like her father, she spent her life working for a PSU bank.)

(All 'My Report' branded stories are submitted by citizen journalists to The Quint. Though The Quint enquires into the claims/allegations from all parties before publishing, the report and the views expressed above are the citizen journalist's own. The Quint neither endorses, nor is responsible for the same.)