Three suspected members of a cybercrime gang were arrested from Porbandar and Valsad in Gujarat for their alleged involvement in cheating a city resident of ₹1.05 crore after luring him with the promise of hefty returns if he invested in the stock market, police said on Sunday.
Investigators identified the suspects as Makwana Harshad Ramesh Bhai of Kadia Plot and Nikunj Mansukh Bhai Chauhan of Rajiv Nagar in Porbandar and Khan Zubair Jamshed of Islampura Shahpur, Valsad. They said the trio were arrested on Friday.
Priyanshu Dewan, assistant commissioner of police (cybercrime), said that ₹54 lakh of the stolen amount was transferred into the bank account of Ramesh.
“Ramesh had given the access of his account to Chauhan. Jamshed was the one who was in touch with the cybercrime gang members. He had further given the access of Chauhan’s account to them for getting money credited that was being duped from victims,” the ACP said.
Investigators said that three mobile phones, five cheque books, two bank passbooks and five SIM cards were seized from the possession of arrested suspects.
Inspector Savit Kumar, station house officer of Cybercrime police station (East), said that the victim had submitted a complaint on February 16 immediately after which an FIR was registered under Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act.
{{/usCountry}}Inspector Savit Kumar, station house officer of Cybercrime police station (East), said that the victim had submitted a complaint on February 16 immediately after which an FIR was registered under Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act.
{{/usCountry}}“Ramesh had got the savings account opened hardly a few days before the victim was duped. The trio were involved in these activities for the last 3-4 years. They had supplied several bank accounts to the gang since then,” he said.
Kumar said Jamshed used to receive 2-3% commission from the gang leader against every transaction (credit) taking place in the mule accounts supplied by them. “He used to share the commission with Ramesh and Chauhan. In this case, we were successful in getting ₹57 lakh out of the total amount reversed into the victim’s account in the course of investigation,” he said.
SHO Kumar said at least 12 to 15 more suspected members of the gang were yet to be arrested in the case. “The trio were interrogated in police-remand and were forwarded to judicial custody after being produced before a city court on Sunday,” he said.