The involvement of Punjab police mostly pertain to land disputes in which many police officials try to favour one or other party, in some cases they have even tried to target land belonging to NRIs in the state.

Recently inspector Pardeep Sandhu of the Ludhiana police was booked by district police in a case pertaining to the land of NRI, Bhupinder Singh. Sandhu was accused of purchasing a plot from the NRI, but then attached the land to another 1200 sq yd vacant plot of the NRI.

Authorities say there are around 30 cases pending against police personnel who tried to land grab with the connivance of civilians and in some cases departmental inquiries against the suspect police are still pending.

Other even higher-up officials are also faced with departmental inquiries in connection with fradulent land disputes and include IPS officials.

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US based Dr Deepak Kamat registered a complaint with the Government Railway Police saying he was drugged and robbed of belongings worth Rs.3 lakhs when he was travelling on the Karnataka Express from Delhi to Bangalore.

Kamat said three people claiming to be IIT students from Bangalore befriended him and gave him some food laced with drugs. Kamat passed out, and the men ran off with his bag containing belongings, $6000 cash, credit cards and a gold chain.

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Smartly dressed touts sporting fake hotel uniforms dupe unsuspecting tourists and weary travellers.

As it is passengers fresh off a flight are swamped by a sea of agents and hotel touts offering unbelievable discounts and packages.

The passengers find the attention and polite treatment flattering and accept the help extended. Once they drop off the pasenger the touts collect a predetermined commission from the hotel management.

Police and the CISF are said to be aware of what goes on as everything happens in full view of the security agencies. Police have been cracking down on the touts and have arrested many involved in the fraudulent activity. They are also checking with hotels to ensure the people they send to the airport are genuine.

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Nageshwar Reddy 30, of Nellore cheated US NRI divorcee Ms D Tulasi of Rs.45 million, by promising the music afficianado he would sell her albums in Hyderabad, and took money from her for the purpose.

Ms Tulasi a native of Tirupati has a passion for music and visited Chennai in 2003 to release her audio CD, when she met Nageshwar who worked as an assistant director.

Nageshwar also asked her to invest in land and flats saying the real estate market was booming in Hyderabad. After she paid him the money to invest, he prepared false documents in her name and sent them to her by courier.

Tulasi kept sending him several lakhs a month to pay the instalments for which she received fake receipts. Tulasi eventually found out about the fraud and approached the court in 2009.

Nageshwar was arrested and said he had spent all the money on sarpanch elections in Nellore. Tulasi also claims that Nageshwar married her in Tirupati. Nageshwar denies the claim.

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Harry Sagainathan a Dubai NRI received an e-mail from the 'UK government' informing him that he had won a lottery of a million pounds. The sender was one Barry Gates who claimed to be from the directorate of Public relationships European Union, Newcastle, UK.

The e-mail asked him to contact Gates for procedures to receive his winnings. Sagainathan called Gates who asked him for 280 pounds to courier the money, which the eager winner sent poste haste.

Gates then asked him to pay 16,409 pounds tax for transferring the money from a UK bank to an Indian one. Later Gates informed him he was sending a representative to Bangalore to deliver the cash and asked him to pay for his travel expenses, which he did. Gates then asked him to pay 567 pounds for customs clearance and again Sagainathan complied.

The fraud continued and Sagainathan paid each time he was told money was needed for RBI guidelines, tax codes etc. He even received a call from a man claiming to be an RBI official asking him to pay a security deposit.

After Sagainathan paid up all the monies asked of him, Gates and company vanished. Sagainathan tried calling various numbers but they were no longer reachable.

He finally realised he had been cheated of his life savings of Rs.28 lakhs, and approached the Bangalore police asking for their help.

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