Industrialist SP Oswal, the chairman and managing director of Vardhman group, was duped of Rs7 crore by cybercriminals impersonating officers from the central bureau of investigation (CBI). Ludhiana police has identified an inter-state gang and arrested two person from Guwahati. A search is on to nab seven others from the gang is spread across Assam, West Bengal and Delhi, a
report from Indian Express says.
Posing as CBI officers, a gang of cyber fraudsters executed an elaborate plan—that included enacting a fake online Supreme Court hearing, fake arrest warrants and a two-day 'digital surveillance over Skype' – to dupe the Padma Bhushan awardee, the report says.
Police told the newspaper that the fraudsters threatened Mr Oswal with fake arrest warrants which they claimed were issued by the enforcement directorate (ED), Mumbai. "The fraudsters also showed Mr Oswal a fake Supreme Court order, directing him to 'release Rs7 crore into a secret supervision account (SSA)', to get the amount transferred to their bank accounts in August last week."
Sharing his ordeal – that lasted from 29th August to 30 August 2024—Mr Oswal told Indian Express, "The fraudsters accused me of being involved in a money laundering case related to Naresh Goyal. I have never spoken to Mr Goyal or met him. I don't know him. The fraudsters kept me under digital surveillance for two long days, including in the night while sleeping. Posing as CBI officers, they instructed me to keep the Skype in my phone on even during sleep and someone from the other side used to watch over me for the whole night," he said.
Following the registration of a first information report (FIR) by Mr Oswal, the Ludhiana police department's cyber crime police station apprehended two individuals associated with an inter-state gang involved in digital fraud. "These individuals impersonated CB) officers and defrauded victims of approximately Rs7 crore. During the arrest, the authorities confiscated Rs5.25 crore from their bank accounts, along with six ATM cards and three mobile phones. As per the Indian cyber crime coordination center (IC4), this is considered to be the largest recovery in India to date, for a cyber fraud amounting to Rs5.25,
Ludhiana police says in a release.
Inspector Jatinder Singh, in-charge of the cyber crime cell of Ludhiana Police, told Indian Express, "We identified and traced the accused within 48 hours. They belonged to Assam, Delhi and West Bengal. Police teams were sent to Guwahati and other cities to arrest them. An amount of Rs5.25 crore was recovered from the bank accounts linked to the gang members and the transactions reverted to Mr Oswal's account."
The two arrested accused from Guwahati are identified as Atanu Choudhary and Anand Kumar. Police are on the lookout for seven others: Nimmi Bhattacharjee (Guwahati), Alok Rangi and Gulam Mortaza (Malda, West Bengal), Sanjay Sutradhar (Hazarapar, Assam), Rintu (Nalbari, Assam), Rumi Kalita (Guwahati) and one Zakir. Rumi Kalita is a former bank employee and "had complete knowhow of how such transactions are managed", inspector Singh told the newspaper.
