Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch on Wednesday arrested two cyber criminals on the charges of siphoning of Rs 5 crore by hacking the Public Financial Management System (PFMS) of National Health Mission.
The accused, identified as Rajkishore Nayak of Bhawanipatna and Ananta Charan Pradhan of Pipili, have been booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 420,467,468,471,120(B) and section 66 (C) & Section (D) of IT Act, 2008. Both the accused were nabbed based on the complaint filed by the Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO), Sonepur district.
In his complaint, the CDMO had alleged that an amount of Rs.5,01,50,000 was unauthorisedly diverted from the account of Zilla Swasthya Samiti, National Health Mission (ZSS, NHM), Subarnapur on April 7 by hacking into the Public Financial Management System (PFMS) of National Health Mission.
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During investigation, it was ascertained that Rajkishore Nayak, who was working as Accountant on temporary basis in NHM, Sonepur from 2016, had entered into a criminal conspiracy with the other accused to commit the fraud, police said. Nayak subsequently was posted temporarily as Accountant in Swami Vivekanand National Institute of Rehabilitation Training & Research (SVNIRTAR), Olatapur.
In March, Nayak allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy with Ananta Charan Pradhan and others. Subsequently, the duo generated one E-cheque amounting to Rs.5,01,50,000 by unauthorisedly hacking into the portal of NHM system i.e. PFMS, EOW said in a release.
The accused later prepared duplicate seal of ADMO and CDMO, Sonepur, used it on the E-cheque to encash the amount.
“The money was diverted to the account of M/s NATURALS. During investigation the mobile handset used for manufacturing of E-cheque has been seized along with other incriminating articles. Out of the siphoned amount of Rs.5 Crore (approx), an amount of Rs.3.30 Crore (approx) has been frozen,” the statement added.
Earlier, one Samir Kumar Pati, who was the employee of M/s NATURALS was arrested and produced before SDJM, Sonepur on May 5, 2021.