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The Commissionerate Police on Thursday arrested two persons of an inter-State cyber-criminal gang who duped a Cuttack resident of Rs 39 lakh on the pretext of installing mobile towers belonging to renowned service provider, Reliance Jio.
Twin City Police Commissioner, Saumendra Priyadarshi said that the two accused- Ankit Ray and Anilesh Anand have been arrested based on the complaint filed by the victim, Dilip Sahu, of Jagatpur area.
Both the accused Ankit and Anilesh are the associates of the prime accused, identified as Abhay Tiwari, who was arrested by Kolkata police in connection with another cybercrime recently.
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According to the Police Commissioner, the cyber criminals had lured the victim into a trap by promising Rs 20 lakh, Rs 20,000 monthly rent and a job to one of his family members in lieu of installing a mobile tower on his land.
After giving in to the temptations of the lucrative offer Sahu had deposited around Rs 39 lakh in various accounts of the criminals at various stages.
The gang cunningly made Dilip pay the money towards processing fees, registration, commercial license, tender clearance, anti-pollution, file verification, billing, corona clearance fees, transportation fees among others, police said.
“I had initially received a call and the criminals told me that Jio mobile tower will be installed on my plot. As per their instruction, I sent various documents and started paying money through various means as demanded towards a variety of fees. I paid Rs 39 lakh in installments,” said Dilip.
After releasing he had been duped, Dilip approached the police and lodged a formal complaint at the Jagatpur police station in connection with the incident.
Twin City Police Commissioner, Saumendra Priyadarshi said that the complainant initially did not suspect as the criminals posed as company executives over phone. To win the victim’s trust, the fraudsters sent various letters using forged letter pad of the company and even TRAI, said Priyadarshi.
The Police Commissioner said that based on the complaint of the victim, a special team was formed and the sleuths zeroed in on Kolkata, the operational base of the racket.
“We have found that prime accused Abhay Tiwari has set up 8 offices and purchased various articles from the money mopped up from various victims through similar frauds. A call centre was set up and multiple staff was engaged to make such calls to trap people,” Priyadarshi added.
The Commissionerate Police informed that Rs 25 lakh has been returned to the victim. A car, 3 mobile phones, 4 pre-activated SIM cards, ATM debit cards, 7 cheque books and 15 bank passbooks have been recovered from the two arrested accused.
“Our further investigation in the case is still on. If needed, we will move court to seek remand of the prime accused,” said Priyadarshi.
