Gurugram: Iraqi national who was in India for a heart surgery dies after conmen snatch $15K from him
Representative image.
A 63-year-old Iraqi man who was in Gurugram for a cardiac surgery died after allegedly trying to chase after some conmen who looted $15,000 ( ₹12.4 lakh) from him. The money was supposed to be used for his treatment, police said on Tuesday, adding they are yet to verify the cause of death.
The incident happened in front of a hotel in Sector 39 on Sunday afternoon while the victim Faris Muslim Abbas and his wife, Nada Ali Salman (54) were returning to the hotel with groceries. Reportedly, one of the two suspects impersonated a police officer in civilian clothes and took the envelope with the money from the Iraqi national on the pretext of checking it for drugs. He then snatched it and ran away.
The couple hails from Baghdad and had reached Delhi on the morning of October 21 and consulted a cardiac surgeon at a private hospital in Sector 38 on October 22. Abbas was scheduled to undergo the surgery on October 25.
Jai Pahwa, a private firm executive who assisted the family in Gurugram with the medical treatment and helped get the FIR registered, said that the two men came in a car and demanded to frisk them.
“Abbas’ wife and hotel staff told me that a suspect with a black cap and a face mask flashed an identity card while introducing himself as a police officer. A driver waited inside the car with the engine running,” he said.
“He then turned towards Abbas and asked him to hand over his belongings for checking. Abbas resisted but he finally handed over an envelope containing $15,000,” he said.
Pahwa further said that they sniffed the envelope and got into the car saying that it was drugs, and rode away.
“The couple chased the car for 20 metres, but fell and got injured. Then Abbas started shivering. He was taken into the hotel and given a glass of water. Hotel staff arranged a cab and rushed Abbas to the hospital where he was undergoing treatment but he died, we suspect probably from cardiac arrest,” he alleged.
Police has registered an FIR under sections 34 (common intention), 379 (theft) and 420 (cheating) of Indian Penal Code at Gurugram Sadar police station. She alleged in the FIR that the crime took her husband's life and has also refused an autopsy. Their son is scheduled to fly to Delhi to take the body back to Baghdad.
A senior police officer said that a brown Honda City was used in Sunday’s crime. “The same car was allegedly used to snatch money from another Iraqi couple and a Sudanese national on March 10 and September 3 this year,” he said. The other two incidents took place in Sector 39 and Sector 38, and the police said that no suspect has been identified in either of the cases yet.
Inspector Ved Parkash, station house officer of Gurugram Sadar police station, said that police suspect the same gang is involved in most of these incidents. “We are trying to identify and arrest them,” he said.
He said that Abbas was already suffering from cardiac issues. “It is yet not clear if he died from the incident or not. However, he did fall ill after the incident and was rushed to hospital where doctors declared him dead. It was not visible in CCTV camera footage if he had chased the suspects,” he said.
(With inputs from agencies)
