Raurkela: Police have busted an interstate cyber fraud gang allegedly involved in multiple cases across Odisha and Jharkhand and arrested four of its members, officials said on Tuesday.
The accused have been identified as Bikash Manjhi (29), Pradeep Kumar (24), Suraj Kumar (24) and Manish Yadav (26), all natives of Deoghar in Jharkhand.
Police seized a car bearing registration number JH-15AQ-7523, six high-end mobile phones, five ATM cards and Rs 24,900 in cash from their possession. Besides, Rs 47 lakh deposited in various bank accounts linked to the alleged fraud has been frozen, police said.
Addressing a presser, Raurkela SP Nitesh Wadhwani said the case came to light after police received information about suspicious transactions through a mule bank account.
During the investigation, Uditnagar police arrested Jyotish Prasad Verma, a native of Giridih in Jharkhand, on August 6. Verma was living near City Super Bazaar in Raurkela and running a momo business, the SP said.
According to police, 31 criminal cases are registered against Verma at different police stations in Odisha and Jharkhand.
The accused allegedly circulated RTO APK, e-challan APK and PM-Kisan Yojana APK files from one mobile phone to another. When victims clicked on the malicious files, money was allegedly siphoned off from their bank accounts.
Police said Verma had been associated with the interstate cyber fraud network for around a year and allegedly helped the gang gain access to customers’ bank accounts and facilitate transactions. Investigators found that transactions involving around Rs 40-50 lakh were being handled through such accounts, the SP said.
Following the arrest of Verma, the Uditnagar police formed a special team and travelled to Jharkhand to trace the other members of the network. The accused were tracked through their IP addresses and subsequently arrested and brought to Raurkela, police said.
Further investigation is underway to identify other members of the gang and establish the extent of its operations, police said.
DSP Jatindranath Sethi and Uditnagar police station IIC Prabh Simran Singh were also present at the press conference held at the district police headquarters.
