Pet Fraud! Lucknow businessman pays ₹26 lakh for Siberian Husky pup, duped

A businessman ended up paying ₹26 million for a Siberian Husky puppy that he never received. In 2021, Sharad Srivastava, a resident of Vikas Nagar, decided to buy a Siberian Husky puppy, which costs between ₹50,000 and ₹60,000 in India.

While searching for this breed, Srivastava came across the mobile number of a pet company based in Aizawl. The company, which allegedly supplied rare puppies to influential people across India, asked Srivastava to pay ₹15,000, which he did on 19 June 2021.

In his FIR, Srivastava claimed that he had paid several installments totaling ₹26,000 to the company in the name of insurance, breeding license and other items at regular intervals through bank transfer.

Srivastava paid ₹ 2 lakh for home delivery of the puppy

Srivastava, who made the last payment on March 7, 2022, said, "If that was not enough, I was further asked to pay ₹ 2 lakh as delivery charges and Rs 60,000 to deliver the puppy home." He went to the police after the scammers demanded another ₹7,000 from him and threatened to kill him when he refused and demanded delivery of the puppy.

However, his FIR was not filed, prompting him to approach the court.

On the direction of the court, an FIR was lodged in the city on Wednesday against Aizawl-based pet sellers Rup, Raj Shanker, Vinod, Rajni Rao of Vibhuti Khand and other unidentified persons. According to the FIR, one of the accused R.K. Verma died due to Covid in 2021.

SHO, Vikasnagar, Ajay Kumar Singh said that an FIR under IPC 406 (breach of trust), 420 (cheating) and 506 (criminal intimidation) has been registered against the accused and investigation is on. “We are checking the bank account details of the victim,” the SHO said.