Nagpur couple booked for duping postal dept's investors of Rs 2.25 cr on promise of high returns

Nagpur: A 55-year-old man and his wife allegedly cheated investors to the tune of Rs 2.25 crore by posing as agents of the postal department and promising high returns on their investment, police said.

The accused were identified as Pradeep Kisan Khangar and his wife Vandana (48), residents of Raipur in Hingna taluka of Nagpur, they said.

While Vandana Khangar is an official agent of the postal department, her husband is not, the police said.

"A woman named Nalini Tambulkar complained to the police that Pradeep approached her in 2021 and told her that he was an agent of the postal department. He lured her and several others into investing in various schemes, including recurring and fixed deposits, of the postal department, and promised them handsome returns on their investments," a police official said.

Falling prey to his promises, Tambulkar invested in the postal department's schemes. Khangar went door-to-door, collecting forms, signatures and money from depositors, he said.

From October 2021 to June 2024, the Khangar couple collected Rs 2,25,58,400 from various investors. But some of them grew suspicious when they did not get any money even after their maturity dates. When they approached the postal department for inquiry, they were shocked to know that they did not have any accounts at the post office, he added.

Based on a complaint, a case was registered against the Khangar couple for impersonation, criminal breach of trust and forgery and investigation was on, they said.