Pimpri-Chinchwad Police Arrest Suspect From Rajasthan Involved in Rs 1 Crore Cyber Fraud Case

In a major breakthrough in the cyber fraud case, the Pimpri-Chinchwad police have arrested the accused involved in defrauding a senior citizen to the tune of Rupees One crore eight lakh. The accused who belonged to Alwar, Rajasthan was arrested from Jaipur by the Pimpri-Chinchwad Cyber Police on September 27. The accused Mayank Ashokkumar Goyal (age 20, resident of Gurjar Mohola, Kherli Rail, Rural, Alwar, Rajasthan) along with his accomplice posing as police officers and bank employees duped a 60-year-old senior citizen for almost Rs 1,08,00,000 claiming that he was involved in money laundering.

As per the police, an accused and his accomplice initially contacted the victim on his mobile phone posing as a nationalised bank customer care employee and informed him that his bank account was used for Rs 2.50 crore money laundering. Later another accused dressed as a police officer contacted the victim via video call on WhatsApp App claiming to be an officer from the Mumbai Police. The accused threatened the victim of legal action and arrest in the fake money laundering and asked him to transfer Rs 1,08,00,000 for verification and investigation and claimed that they would return the money and provide him with and no objection certificate (NOC) and return the money once the the matter is investigated. When the victim transferred the money to the accused they stopped receiving his calls and blocked his number. Realizing that he was duped the victim immediately registered an online complaint by calling 1930 and rushed to the cyber police station, accordingly a case was registered under sections 205, 308(1), 313(2), 318(4), 319(2), 336(3) of the Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) and sections 66 C and 66 (D) of the Information Technology Act.

The Pimpri Chinchwad Police Commissioner Vinay Kumar Choubey immediately ordered an investigation and Deputy Police Commissioner (Crime) Sandeep Doiphode, and Assistant Police Commissioner (Crime), Dr Vishal Hire formed a team and initiated a probe. Police Inspector Ravikiran Nale of the Cyber police station led the investigation forming two teams including Assistant Police Inspector Praveen Swami and Police Sub Inspector Sagar Poman.

While investigating it came to light private bank account was used in the crime and accordingly Assistant Police Inspector Praveen Swami  along with Police Constable Hemant Kharat, Shrikant Kabule, Sandeep Tekale and Nilesh Deshmukh tracked the account holders and arrested Sahil Mohan Mudliyar (age 25, resident of Sahkarnagar, Pune), Kshitij Girish Khirsagar (age 27, resident of Sinhagad Road, Wadgaon Budruk, Pune) and Onkar Ram Naik (age 28, resident of Sangli)

While interrogating the arrested accused it came to light that the money was transferred to cities in Gujarat and Rajasthan. Accordingly, the police team led by Assistant Police Inspector Praveen Swami, including Police Constable Atul Lokhande, Shrikant Kabule and Saurabh Ghate visited cities in Gujarat and Rajasthan. Further technical analysis and investigation revealed that the primary accused hiding in Alwar, Rajasthan.  The police team immediately rushed to Alwar and arrested the accused Mayank Ashokkumar Goyal (age 20, resident of Gurjar Mohola, Kherli Rail, Rural, Alwar, Rajasthan) on September 27. The Jaipur Court granted a transit remand of the accused and accordingly, the accused Mayank Goyal was produced before the Pimpri Court. The court has granted police custody to the accused till October 10 for further investigation. The police are investigating the involvement of other accomplices and the involvement of Mayank Goyal in other cyber fraud cases.

The Pimpri- Chinchwad police have appealed to the citizens to fall prey to fraudulent calls and not to trust any unknown caller. The Police stated that the citizens should immediately visit the nearest police station and verify the call details. The police indicated that senior police officers and officials will never contact anyone via video call and will never threaten anyone with a digital arrest. The police appealed to the citizens to not give access to mobile screen sharing to any unknown person and to avoid sharing personal details.