Friday, 22 March 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) arrested an absconding Delhi native for duping several young men in the name of providing them jobs in the army. The accused identified as Pankaj Samant had duped several young men of more than Rs two crores. He has mainly duped people in Udham Singh Nagar and Pithoragarh districts and was planning to target young men in Dehradun too, the senior superintendent of police of STF Ankush Agrawal said. He informed that four were registered against the accused in four police stations of Pithoragarh and two cases in Udham Singh Nagar’s Khatima police station in 2023.
The Pithoragarh SSP had also announced a bounty of Rs 10,000 on his head but he remained absconding. He had also formed a gang to dupe more youth. He was not using mobile phones and was not in touch with his family members that made it difficult for authorities to catch him.
Agrawal said that STF started investigating the cases and started searching for Samant a few months ago. The STF received a tip off during investigation that Samant had been staying in Dehradun at Rajpur’s Dhoran Khas area for a long time by changing his identity. He was allegedly planning to become active in this area to dupe young men. However, the STF arrested him late on Wednesday from the Rajpur area. The investigation is ongoing and his gang members will be arrested soon, SSP added.
