On March 29, 2008, one of the two men, claiming to be a doctor at PGI, visited four showrooms and purchased goods worth lakhs of rupees. They paid through cheque, which bounced after three days, following which the shopowners realised they had been duped.

“The first, a bespectacled man, looked in his 40’s. He identified himself as Vishesh Kumar. The other person, in his 20’s, said he was Dr Kapil Chadda, posted at PGI. They said they wanted to buy furniture for a house they had recently purchased in Sector 21 for Rs 22 crore,” a police officer said.

Another police officer, who did not wish to be identified, said: “Despite police’ claims of investigation, there is a little hope of recovering the stolen goods as the two men have not been identified till date.”

Lalit Kumar, the owner of Ahuja furniture, who was also duped, said he had accompanied the investigating team to Delhi where the accused had reportedly taken the goods. “The goods were unloaded at Ram Bagh parking near Pitampura in New Delhi. The police officers there said the two had told them that the furniture was a part of dowry one of them had received and were taking it to their home.”

The conmen duo then took the goods to an unknown destination on three-wheelers, Kumar told Newsline.

He said: “We also visited the house of Tarseem Kumari, in whose name the cheque book was issued. Tarseem told us that her cheque book had been stolen a few months ago after which she had filed an FIR.”

A police team was also sent to Gurgaon and Delhi, but no breakthrough was made.