The economic offences wing (EOW) of the crime branch here has chargesheeted two women police constables for allegedly cheating their colleagues to the tune of Rs.1.87 crore by luring them of hefty returns by investing money and gold with them.

A spokesman of the crime branch identified the two woman senior grade constables as Nirmal Kour Saini and Arti Sharma who have been charged under sections 420, 404, 120-B RPC.

They have been accused of hatching a criminal conspiracy and cheating the complainant, along with other co-employees of IRP 15th Battalion of Rs 1,87,64,000 after luring them with hefty returns for investing money and gold with them. EOW has produced a 382-page chargesheet in the court against the two women constables.

The alleged fraud surfaced after the commandant of IRP 15th Battalion held an inquiry into complaints by some other women constables that Constable Nirmal Kour had taken an amount of Rs 1 Lakh each from them “fraudulently” on the commitment that she would repay an interest of Rs. 5,000 per month on the invested money but neither such interest nor the principle amount was repaid.

The spokesman said during the course of inquiry it was found that the accused constable, Nirmal Kour, in connivance with her husband Mohinder Singh Saini, presently posted in J&K Armed Police 14th Bn. had collected a huge amount of cash and gold not only from the complainants but also from other women officials of the 15th Bn. and security wing after alluring them with high rate of interest besides arranging gold loan facilities but had deposited the cash with some finance company and gold with Manappuraam Bank-Satwari, Karan Market Jammu for their personal use. They are charged with cheating and duping their fellow officials and “misappropriated” the collected amount to the tune of Rs 1.50 Crore and gold about 300 grams approx.

On receipt of the inquiry report, a formal case was registered in Crime Branch Jammu under the relevant sections of law. During the course of investigation it was also found that the accused also started a business of electronic gadgets and furniture items at Battalion headquarters against monetary benefits to win over the confidence of innocent investors.