Pune Police Arrests Cyber Criminal Involved in Nationwide Fraud Cases

Cybercriminal wanted in seven states for defrauding several people have been arrested by the Chandan Nagar police in Pune. As per the police a complaint was registered at the Chandan Nagar police station against an unknown accused last year. The accused allegedly duped the complainant to the tune of Rs 24,95,995 and a case was registered under sections 409, 419, 420 and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the IT Act. Accordingly, the police initiated an investigation of the case. While carrying out the technical analysis and investigating the bank account details of the accused it was revealed that the bank account is registered in Thergaon in Pimpri Chinchwad while the location of the registered mobile number of the account was Nashik. 

Accordingly, the police questioned the beneficiary of the account holder identified as Abhishek Ranade in August 2023. Ranade informed the police that his bank account was hacked and he had registered a complaint about the same at the Wakad police station and online. The police accordingly visited the bank in Chinchwad and questioned the bank manager and found discrepancies in Ranade’s testimony. The police grew suspicious and arrested Ranade who was given police custody till February 07 by the court for investigation. Further probe revealed that the accused handed over his current account to his accomplice in Nashik and the registered mobile number was of the same accomplice. They opened two new current accounts in the bank and duped many people under the pretext of providing handsome returns by completing online tasks. The accused allegedly contacted the victims on WhatsApp and later added them to a Telegram group by promising money for completing online tasks and later asking them to pay money and cheating them. 

On March 25, 2023, the accused and his accomplice discussed the issue with a lawyer and filed a false complaint of a bank account getting hacked. Further investigations revealed that similar cases were registered against the accused in Bhosari MIDC Police Station in Pune, Cyber Crime police station in Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, Cyber Crime police station in Tripur City in Tamil Nadu, Rohtak Police Station in Haryana, Cyber Crime Sen police station in Bangalore, Police station Sarkanda in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, Cyber crime police station Kundur in Tamil Nadu and 80 notices were sent to the bank from various other police station in the country. The police have arrested the accused Abhishek Ranade from Pimpri Chinchwad and the investigation is ongoing.