Transfer cheating case to Cyber Crime Cell: HC

Taking a serious note of cyber crimes, the Bombay High Court has asked the state government to consider transferring to the Cyber Crime Cell from Amboli police station the investigation of a cheating complaint lodged by a senior citizen.

Taking a serious note of cyber crimes, the Bombay High Court has asked the state government to consider transferring to the Cyber Crime Cell from Amboli police station the investigation of a cheating complaint lodged by a senior citizen.

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A division bench of Justices B.H. Marlapalle and Anoop Mohta on Friday asked the government to decide within a week whether it could transfer the complaint lodged by Cavas Majai.

Majai, a Bandra resident who owns two petrol pumps, filed a petition alleging that the police did not act on his complaint last December against an employee of a mobile service provider.

Pradeep Havnur, Majai’s advocate, said that on November 30, 2009, Majai’s cellphone went dead and flashed the message ‘Unregistered SIM’.

When Majai went to the BPL Loop Gallery on December 1 to get another SIM card, he was told that it had been reissued the previous day itself from their gallery in Jogeshwari.

Majai went to the Jogeshwari’s gallery with his son, where he learnt that Asim Sheikh, an employee of the gallery, had given the replacement SIM to his friend Sadique, alleged the petition.

On checking his bank account, Majai learnt that Rs 2 lakh had been withdrawn through the mobile banking service.

“The innovative modus operandi is that the operators themselves issue a message on the cellphone and before the subscriber gets issued a fresh SIM card, it is issued to the perpetrator based on false, fabricated, bogus documents,” the petition said. “With the help of fresh/new SIM, the perpetrator withdraws cash from the original subscriber’s bank ATMs using mobile banking.”

Majai sought the transfer, saying the Cyber Crime Cell is better equipped to handle the case.