Cyber fraud: Two Delhi women among four land in Ludhiana police net

According to the police, the accused had opened multiple accounts in banks using fake documents to dupe people;the police found ₹80 Lakh in the bank accounts of the accused, which suggested that the gang had duped many people

The Focal Point police have arrested four persons, including two women for allegedly duping a Ludhiana-based industrialist of ₹20 lakh by posing as representatives of a Kolkata-based steel firm and promising them to supply steal for the former’s newly set up a unit in Guwahati.

The arrested accused have been identified as Pareena and Sonia of South West Delhi, Vikas of Haryana and his brother Vivek. Kingpin of the gang Chotu alias Kishan Ghosh of Patna, Bihar is yet to be arrested. (HT Photo)

According to the police, the accused had opened multiple accounts in banks using fake documents to dupe people. The police found ₹80 Lakh in the bank accounts of the accused, which suggested that the gang had duped many people.

The arrested accused have been identified as Pareena and Sonia of South West Delhi, Vikas of Haryana and his brother Vivek. Kingpin of the gang Chotu alias Kishan Ghosh of Patna, Bihar is yet to be arrested.

The police have recovered 47 fake Aadhar cards, 13 PAN cards, 7 fake stamps, 2 laptops, 1 desktop, 1 fingerprint scanner, 2 biometric devices, 1 State Bank of India (SBI) stamp, 3 SBI registers and SBI forms that are required to be filled for opening bank accounts.

In the complaint, Bhatia stated that the accused Sharma contacted them and cracked a deal with them for supplying steel to their newly built firm in Guwahati.

The DCP added that the investigation of the matter was handed over to the ADCP- headquarters Rupinder Kaur Bhatti, who heads the cyber cell of the city police. After investigation, it was found that the accused used the fake names- Vishwajit and Gaurav Sharma- to contact the victims. The probe led to these four accused- Vikas, Vivek, Pareena and Sonia.

The police officer said that the accused exchanged some emails along with their letterhead and IDs which had ‘Tata Steels’ mentioned on it with the victims. The accused asked for 25% advance payment which the victims transferred into the given bank account.

During the probe, the police found that the transferred amount of ₹20 Lakh was further sent into 10 bank accounts, two of which were opened in the names of the women.

The ADCP added that Vikas and Vivek used to provide fake documents, including Aadhar cards. The accused had lured the women for monetary gains and used their documents to open bank accounts.

He said that the accused were active for the past one year and this gang is believed to be involved in a multi-crore fraud.