Cases of frauds continue in the city, as the Delhi police arrested a 77-year-old NRI businessman on Monday. The accused, identified as Harbhajan Singh Chopra, was arrested for allegedly duping a Mumbai-based company by procuring a loan of Rs 10 crore. A case of cheating and forgery has been registered against the accused, his son and wife on the complaint of the company. The investigations have been handed over to Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police.

According to police, Harbhajan Singh Chopra owned a farmhouse near Mehrauli. Some years back he had procured a loan of Rs 10 crore from Mumbai based Litolier Properties Private Limited, for the expansion of his business. The company had granted a loan of Rs 10 crore to Chopra and his family, after they promised to mortgage their farmhouse in Mehrauli.

A senior police official said, "The loan was granted a few years ago and when the company started pressing for mortgage of property, Chopra refused. A few months later, when the company again approached Chopra for money, he gave them post-dated cheques of the money he had borrowed. The cheques were later dishonoured when presented at the bank."

The company repeatedly tried to contact Chopra but when their attempts failed to get the loan money back, they approached the Delhi Police who registered a case at the Economic Offences Wing police station near Malviya Nagar. Investigations revealed that Chopra, who ran a business with the name of Fountainhead, was a British national and was staying at a farmhouse along with his wife and children.

"We arrested H S Chopra and his police remand was sought. He had deposited Rs 5 crore at the court after which the bail has been granted to him," said additional commissioner of police (EOW) S B K Singh.

Police have said that investigation has revealed that the money taken from the Mumbai-based company, was given by Chopra to his son, Gurvinder Singh. However, before making any judgments they needed to probe the role of others in the transaction. "Chopra’s wife and son had stood as surety for the loan and their role is being probed in the fraud," said a senior police officer at EOW.

"The cheques, which were issued by Chopra for returning the loan, were dishonored. Besides, the bank accounts on which the cheques were drawn were found to be closed," added the officer.

However, in the meantime the police have registered a case under sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust) 468 (forgery) and 471 (using a forged document as genuine) of Indian Penal Code against the Chopras.