Eight held for abducting techies to facilitate cyber fraud

The incident came to light on Tuesday when a team of police from Sushant Golf City raided a flat after Pawan Kumar informed the police that his brother, Ankit Patel, and his brother’s friend, Anish Singh, had been abducted from Prayagraj on August 25 by an acquaintance.

LUKCNOW: Lucknow police on Wednesday raided a location in the Sushant Golf City area and arrested eight youths who allegedly abducted two techies from Prayagraj and locked them in a room to force them into cyber fraud using the Mahadev Gaming App.

The police team also recovered 18 mobile phones, 4 laptops with chargers, QR codes, five SIM cards, two checkbooks, nine ATM cards, and other items from their possession. (Sourced)

All eight accused, aged between 20 and 30 years, are residents of Chhattisgarh, with most of them being students.

The incident came to light on Tuesday when a team of police from Sushant Golf City raided a flat after Pawan Kumar informed the police that his brother, Ankit Patel, and his brother’s friend, Anish Singh, had been abducted from Prayagraj on August 25 by an acquaintance. “The men had locked the duo in a flat; however, one of the victims, Ankit, managed to send his location to his family’s WhatsApp group,” the police said.

“After the family contacted the police on Wednesday, an FIR was lodged. A police force was immediately formed based on the location sent by the kidnapped person. The team reached the house in front of Sector New A4 and safely recovered Ankit Kumar Patel and Anees Kumar Singh,” said Kiran Yadav, assistant commissioner of police, Gosaiganj, in a press conference.

The family informed the police that Ankit Patel and his friend Anish Kumar Singh, who lived in Sector-7, Durg district of Chhattisgarh, were lured to Prayagraj by an acquaintance, Avinash Mishra, who had called them to do some computer work, even booking their tickets.

“When they arrived in Prayagraj, four individuals forcibly made them get into the car, and brought them to Lucknow. They were handed over to a group of eight people in a flat near Sector New A4 in the Sushant Golf City Police Station area. The original kidnappers then left, and the eight people present at the flat threatened the victims, locked them in a room, and attempted to force them into committing cyber fraud,” read a police press note.

During interrogation, the accused revealed to the police that they earn money by investing other people’s money through the online Mahadev Gaming App. The accused further disclosed that Ankit Patel and Anish Singh had previously taken Rs. 3 lakh from them in exchange for providing the user ID and password for the app. When Ankit and Anish refused to hand over the ID and password, they were lured to Prayagraj, kidnapped, and brought to Lucknow. When they still refused to give the login ID and password, they were locked in the room.