₹2 Crore Romance: Delhi Police Officer, Partner Go On A Romantic Vacation With Embezzled Money

Delhi: SI Ankur Malik devised a plan to embezzle the money and used it to pay for an opulent vacation with his batchmate and romantic partner, SI Neha Punia, rather than giving the recovered money back to the legitimate victims. They then took vacations in popular tourist destinations like Goa, Manali, and Kashmir using the money they had taken.

Both officers, married to other individuals, were planning to abandon their current lives and start afresh under new identities — a plan that was ultimately foiled by Delhi Police investigators.

SI Ankur Malik, a 2021 batch officer assigned to the North-East District's Cyber Thana, rigged the system by persuading a judge to release confiscated funds under false pretenses. After that, he transferred the money to bank accounts owned by his friends.
Malik requested a seven-day medical leave after the money was diverted, but he never came back. Neha Punia, a member of the 2021 batch who was assigned to the GTB Enclave police station, also vanished at about the same time. Soon after, both were reported missing.

The Delhi Police’s investigation revealed that the duo had been involved in a meticulously planned fraud operation. The two officers had become close during their police training and, according to officials, "the fraud was planned there itself."

After months of technical surveillance and on-ground intelligence gathering, police tracked Malik and Punia down to Indore, where they were arrested after four months on the run.