Man swindles Rs 1.29 lakh-mobile phone from delivery person in Bengaluru

Police arrested a 25-year-old man for allegedly tricking a delivery executive and fleeing with a high-end mobile phone worth lakhs.

The suspect Kshitij Malhotra, who hails from Punjab and is a resident of Hebbal, allegedly ordered a top-brand mobile phone valued at Rs 1.29 lakh from a Chennai-based electronics appliance retailer with multiple outlets in Bengaluru.

Malhotra's order reached the retailer's control room in Malleswaram. When the executive contacted him to confirm the delivery address, Malhotra claimed to be a doctor at a private hospital in JP Nagar. He requested the delivery be made there. To make his story credible, he made an advance payment of Rs 1,000 online.

Following Malhotra's request, the control room staff instructed an employee in Rajajinagar to make the delivery since it was the nearest store with the product available.

When the delivery person arrived with the product, Malhotra kept him waiting, citing a surgery he claimed to be performing at the hospital. After an hour, he met the delivery person and took him to the hospital's fourth floor, saying he had left his wallet there.

Emergency exit escape 

Malhotra then made an online payment of Rs 10,000 and received the order. He entered an empty room with the packet, pretending to get the remaining amount. Around 15 minutes later, the delivery executive entered the room only to discover that Malhotra had escaped through the emergency exit.

The delivery person dialled the police helpline 112. Police filed a case under IPC Section 420 (cheating).

An investigating police officer described the operation as well-planned, noting, “He went into the hospital dressed in a white coat and spent several hours inside before summoning the delivery person.”

Police revealed that Malhotra had committed a similar crime six months ago at the Hebbal branch of the same hospital. Malhotra has been living in Bengaluru for a decade, police said.