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Chandigarh police swoop down on Rajasthan’s Bharatpur village, nab two scammers
Braving villagers, 38-member cyber cell team arrests kingpins of inter-state OLX fraud gang, following an exhaustive operation spanning over three days
The cyber crime cell of Chandigarh Police nabbed two kingpins of an inter-state OLX fraud gang after raiding Gamadi village in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur district through an exhaustive operation spanning over three days.
The accused, identified as Abdul Kayyum, 34, of Gamadi village, Bharatpur, and Iqbal, 40, of Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, were nabbed on May 1 and brought to Chandigarh the next day, shared police officers while giving details of the arrest on Saturday.
Suspecting a violent clash with villagers of Gamadi, who are allegedly involved in the OLX cyber fraud in large numbers, a cyber cell team led by SP Ketan Bansal and station house officer Ranjit Singh, prepared a detailed plan to trace and nab the two accused.
“We knew the villagers there in the past had clashed with police teams from other states. The village is in a hilly area and surrounded by forests. As residents get prior information about police raids, they either escape and hide in forest or pelt police parties with stones to drive them away. Hence, we readied a detailed plan,” shared a senior police officer, attached with the probe.
“We reached the village on April 30 and after planning for a day and checking all entry and exit points, a team of 38 police personnel raided the village on May 1 and nabbed the two accused while keeping the surveillance team in the loop. Controlling the villagers was the biggest challenge, but we managed to bring the accused to Chandigarh on May 2,” the officer added.
With their arrest, police also recovered 15 mobile phones, four SIM cards, 11 ATM cards and one internet modem from Abdul’s house.
Had duped Chandigarh resident of ₹20,000
Police had launched a probe following a complaint by Sahil Ali of Dhanas, Chandigarh.
Ali had reported that he saw an advertisement on online market place OLX for a Maruti Suzuki Alto K10 car, posted by one Ashok Gupta, who claimed to be a CRPF officer.
When he contacted Gupta to buy the vehicle, he told him that he wanted to sell his car, as he was being transferred from Chandigarh to Jaipur. He said he will dispatch the car from Jaipur to Chandigarh through the Indian Army transport service.
After negotiations, the complainant deposited ₹20,000 in the account of the accused as shipping and delivery charges, but later learnt that he had been duped.
After he approached the police, they launched a probe and traced the accused to Bharatpur. A police officer said investigation revealed that the fraudsters, posing as army, CRPF, navy, air force and CISF officials, had duped many people across the country.
While Abdul is named in four fraud cases in other states, Iqbal is facing two cases of attempt to murder case and Arms Act, said police.
