New Delhi, October 30 — The East District Cyber Police of Delhi Police have arrested three men for allegedly running a cyber-fraud network that operated a mobile call centre from inside a moving SUV, frequently changing locations to evade the geo-tracking used by investigators, police said. The vehicle was intercepted in the Old Kondli area of East Delhi.
Source: IANS
The three accused have been identified by police as Lokesh Tomar (37), a resident of Old Kondli; Tushar (35), a resident of Shahdara; and Himanshu Rathore, a resident of Kalyan Puri. All three face allegations that are yet to be tested in court.
Source: Nation Press
According to the police, the case began with a complaint by Neelesh Vishwakarma, a resident of Umaria district in Madhya Pradesh, who was allegedly cheated of Rs 65,000, taken as a processing fee on the promise of a refund of Rs 45 lakh he had invested in insurance policies. An FIR was registered at the Cyber Police Station, East District, under Sections 318(4) and 112(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
A dedicated team — Sub-Inspector Vinay Kumar, Head Constables Devendra and Nitin and Woman Constable Aanchal, led by Inspector Pawan Yadav, the station house officer of the Cyber Police Station, under the supervision of the ACP (Operations), East District — examined suspicious banking transactions and the suspected use of mule accounts to receive and move the proceeds, police said. Himanshu Rathore was apprehended during the investigation.
Police said further inquiries showed the accused were using a white car as a mobile operational base. Through technical analysis and field surveillance, the team tracked the vehicle and intercepted it in Old Kondli, where the other two accused were apprehended.
From the vehicle and the accused, police said they recovered the car, seven mobile phones, 15 bank, debit and Metro cards, five PAN cards, four Aadhaar cards or copies, six cheque books, three passbooks, a signed cheque, two rent agreements, 11 passport-size photographs, nine pages said to contain a customer list, and a suspected forged stamp bearing the name of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
Police allege Tomar coordinated the operations and arranged mule accounts, Tushar contacted and deceived victims, and Rathore provided bank accounts for receiving and transferring the money. The investigation is continuing, and the accused are entitled to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.