Mumbai: Cyber cops nab culprits in massive fraud saga

Mangal Singh Rathod, arrested from Rajasthan; Siddharth Biswas

A 21-year-old entrepreneur who runs a travel business in Kolkata got caught up in a tricky situation. He let online scammers use his uncle's bank account, and then he filed a false report about missing documents of the bank account in Bangalore to have an alibi ready. The problem escalated when a builder from Malad lost around R12.19 lakh in a fraud linked to that bank account. This builder reported the issue to the North Cyber Police on December 20.

As the police dug into the matter, they found a bank account that had received about Rs 50,000 from the builder's money. This led them to freeze the account. They called in the account owner for questioning. During questioning, they found out that the account owner, living in Nalasopara, had a fishing business and an ICICI Bank account named "Anjali Fish." He confessed that his nephew, Siddharth Biswas, 21, was using this account. Strangely, Biswas had also complained to the Bangalore police about the missing account. The police detained Biswas for further investigation.

It turns out, Biswas willingly gave the account to online scammers who used it for illegal activities, putting a huge amount of money in it within a few days. After investigating, under the supervision of SI Vijay Chandanshive, API Sanjay Pawar Biswas was arrested and presented in court, where he was sent to judicial custody.

Meanwhile, the police also tracked another case where a 29-year-old from Sion Koliwada and an accomplice tricked a Borivli trader, stealing around Rs 15.85 lakh. They found money in the bank account of one of the suspects, Rohit Shrivastava, who revealed that he was just helping a friend. Shrivastava is in custody, and the police are after his associate.

In a separate case, API Sandeep Pachangne, successfully resolved a social media fraud case involving a retired manager from south Mumbai who lost Rs 18.30 lakh. The police caught Mangal Singh Rathod from Rajasthan, who used to run a money transfer business. He would earn a commission of Rs 10 for every Rs 1,000 transaction.

He was lured by two individuals who promised higher commissions, persuading him to share his bank account. Within a day, more than Rs 1 crore was deposited into his account, with Rs 2.30 lakh belonging to the retired manager. When authorities froze the account, only Rs 2.33 lakh remained, as the remaining amount had been withdrawn or transferred by the two individuals, who are currently being pursued by the North Cyber Police. The cops are looking for two people who have been identified as Sunil Khatik and Hukumchand Teli.

Rs 12.19L
Amount lost by Malad builder