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NEW DELHI: A 49-year-old man, who claimed to be a chartered accountant, was arrested by the crime branch for allegedly duping people by promising them loans from foreign banks.

The accused identified as Brij Bhushan Aggarwal, a resident of Pitampura, was apprehended following investigations into a complaint from a man who claimed that Aggarwal took Rs 12.5 lakh from him on the pretext of providing a contract to run a canteen at Reliance Energy Ltd in Agra.

Aggarwal was arrested in Pitampura on July 28 and was then taken on police remand. During his custody, police claimed to have seized a laptop, a pendrive and stamps of his private firm which he was running in the name of Khushi Impex from Pitampura.

Additional commissioner of police (crime) Neeraj Thakur said, "He used to dupe people by promising them loans from foreign banks. He promised them business opportunities as well. He has swindled a huge amount of money from his victims in the last 15 years.''

He was earlier declared a proclaimed offender in a similar case registered with the economic offences wing of crime branch. In this case, he had taken Rs 2.5 lakh from a man promising him a loan of Rs 25 crore from a foreign bank. In 1996, he allegedly cheated a businessman of Rs 15 lakh by posing as an NRI and promising to facilitate his business of rice export from India. Similarly in 2001, he cheated another businessman from Ghaziabad of Rs 10 lakh by assuring him a loan of Rs 10 crore from a foreign bank.

Aggarwal, a commerce graduate from Sri Ram College of Commerce, used to operate very discreetly and avoided meeting people. He would ask his prospective customers to contact him over phone or email. Most of his targets were from outside Delhi and he would contact businessmen who needed loans from banks. He would claim to be an authorized representative of the foreign bank and easily secured loans from his victims,'' said a police officer.

To gain faith of his clients, he also used to give cheques claiming that in case the loan is not sanctioned, the cheque can be kept as security. The cheques when presented before the banks were dishonoured. On Saturday, Aggarwal was produced before the court which remanded him 14 days judicial custody.