New Delhi, Jun 29 (IANS): Three people were arrested for cheating people on the pretext of selling a car by advertising it on Facebook, an official said on Wednesday.

The three accused, identified as Akshay (27), Shivam (22) and Anand Sharma, spent the cheated money on a leisure trip to a hill station.

Furnishing details, Deputy Commissioner of Police (southeast) Esha Pandey said a complaint was received at Lajpat Nagar police station on June 9 in which the complainant stated that he had been duped with Rs 4,62,000 by three people on the pretext of selling their car to him.

The complainant saw an advertisement on Facebook regarding sale of a Fortuner car and he planned to purchase it following which he contacted the alleged people. The seller asked him to come meet them in Lajpat Nagar.

"When the complainant visited them he even saw the car that he ought to buy and the deal was fixed in Rs 6,30,000, of which he paid them Rs 4,62,000 and told them he'll pay the remaining amount through RTGS," the DCP said, adding the the accused persons fled away in the same car carrying the cash given by the complainant.

Accordingly, based on the complaint, the police registered a case under sections 406 (Criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and an investigation was initiated.

A police team was constituted which analysed the bank account details provided by the accused people to the complainant for transferring the remaining amount."After the analysis, it was found that the money was transferred to the account number of a person namely Akshay. His mobile number was found running in Mahendragarh, Haryana," DCP Pandey said.

Subsequently, a raid was conducted and accused Akshay was arrested from Haryana while on his instance his two accomplices Shivam and Anand were nabbed in Saket, Delhi.