An agent of a private company was arrested in the national capital for allegedly cheating an NRI of Rs14 lakh under the garb of fictitious repayment plan, police said today.

Devinder Singh Ratra (37), a resident of Gurgaon, was caught recently for allegedly cheating Pritpal Singh Malhotra, an NRI, residing in US.

A senior police officer said Malhotra wanted to purchase a flat in Gurgaon and was looking for a good house loan scheme. Malhotra was approached by Ratra posing himself as the CEO of Regards Marketing Pvt Ltd.

"Ratra arranged a home loan of Rs50 lakh to the complainant (Malhotra)for purchasing a flat in Gurgaon from ICICI Bank's Janakpuri Branch. The bank gave him repayment plan through schedule of EMIs," the officer said. He then allegedly introduced a fictitious repayment scheme showing no interest required to be paid on the EMIs and convinced the complainant to pay him Rs14 lakh which will be adjusted in the repayment of EMIs.

"Ratra managed to obtain cheques for a cumulative amount of Rs14 lakh from Malhotra deceitfully and deposited these in a joint account of his wife and mother. "He withdrew the amount so obtained for paying the EMIs to the bank and misappropriated the amount and later absconded," the officer said. During investigation, the officer said, it came to light that Ratra has no affiliation with ICICI Bank and was not the CEO in M/s Regards Marketing Pvt. Ltd.

"He is an agent of banks offering his services for arranging bank loans on commission basis. Ratra vacated his own house in Delhi and started living in a rented flat in Gurgaon. He was tracked and a raid was conducted and the accused was arrested," the official said.

During interrogation, the officer claimed, Ratra admitted to have cheated another person Surender Pal Verma of Rs11 lakh using similar modus operandi.