E-Paper
Cyber fraud: Multi-state hunt on for scammers who duped Panchkula mayor of ₹42L
According to police sources, the initial transfers of the illicit funds were traced to accounts in Kolkata (West Bengal) and Sewarhi, Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh
The district cybercrime police have launched a multi-state operation to apprehend the perpetrators behind sophisticated cyber fraud amounting to ₹42.52 lakh, targeting city mayor Kulbhushan Goyal. Teams have been dispatched to states including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal, etc. following fraudulent transactions.
According to police sources, the initial transfers of the illicit funds were traced to accounts in Kolkata (West Bengal) and Sewarhi, Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh. These accounts were opened in Jana Small Finance Bank and HDFC Bank. Police suspect these may be ‘mule accounts’ used by the fraudsters, indicating a complex money trail that the cyber police are now diligently tracking with the assistance of bank officials and other government agencies to identify the actual scammers.
Further inquiries with Punjab and Sind Bank, from where the funds were debited, have been initiated to obtain transaction details. The role of bank officials was also scrutinised but they were found to not be involved in the fraud, said a cop.
Mayor Kulbhushan Goyal, 64, a resident of Sector 6, lodged the complaint on the cyber portal on June 26. In his complaint, Goyal, who is a director of Amarnath Aggarwal Investment Private Limited with an office in Sector 2, stated that he received a call from his son from Spain on June 26. His son informed him about two suspicious transactions totalling ₹42.52 lakh ( ₹22,56,000 and ₹19,96,000) from the company’s account at the Punjab and Sind Bank’s Sector 17 branch. He had received debit alerts for these transactions and inquired if his father had authorised them. The mayor denied any such payment.
Upon investigation, Goyal contacted his company’s accountant, Birbhan Garg, who confirmed that no such payments were made by the company, despite the funds being debited. The accountant was subsequently asked to visit the bank, and a cyber complaint was filed. It was later discovered that ₹ 22,56,000 was transferred to an individual named Deepak Kumar and ₹19,96,000 to an individual named Okender from the company’s account.
Further investigation revealed that the fraudsters had created a forged letterhead of Goyal’s company and sent a fake WhatsApp message to the mobile number of the bank manager, instructing him to deposit the specified amounts into two account numbers provided to him.
The case was registered on June 27 at the cybercrime police station under various sections 316(2), 318(4), 336(3), 338, 340, and 61 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
