Labourer, two college students arrested in Delhi cyber fraud case

New Delhi: The Delhi Police arrested three people in connection with a cyber-fraud case involving cheating of Rs 97,708, with the accused allegedly operating and facilitating the use of a mule bank account to receive and handle proceeds of cyber fraud, officials said on Sunday.

Three mobile phones and Rs 20,000 in cash were also recovered during the course of the investigation.

The case came to light after a complaint was received from a resident of Tamil Nadu, who alleged that he had been cheated of Rs 97,708 on the pretext of providing benefits under the Government Scholarship Scheme.

During the investigation, the police meticulously analysed the financial trail of the cheated amount. Since the mule bank account used for carrying out the transactions was being operated in Delhi's East District, the Cyber Police Station there took up the investigation to identify the persons facilitating and operating the account and to disrupt the chain involved in handling the proceeds of the cyber fraud.

Accordingly, an FIR under Sections 112(2) and 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) was registered at the police station.

As part of sustained efforts to identify and disrupt the financial channels being used for cyber fraud, a dedicated team of PS Cyber, East District, was constituted under the leadership of Inspector Pawan, SHO/PS Cyber, East District, and under the supervision of ACP, Operations, Amandeep Kaur.

The team comprised Sub-Inspectors Bhanu Singh and Azad, Head Constables Ajay, Parveen, and Yogesh, who conducted a detailed analysis of the financial transactions and digital trail linked to the cheated amount.

The investigation established that the cheated money had been routed through a bank account maintained in the name of 23-year-old Kunal Kumar, a labourer.

Further scrutiny of the bank records revealed that the account was allegedly being used as a mule account for receiving and handling proceeds generated through cyber fraud.

Police found that approximately Rs 44,500 had been withdrawn from the account, while a portion of the amount was subsequently transferred to accused Manish Kumar, a 22-year-old college student.

Further investigation revealed the alleged involvement of Manish Kumar and another 22-year-old college student, Jeet alias Nikhil, in handling the movement of the cheated amount. According to the investigation, Manish Kumar used to arrange mule bank accounts for Jeet.

Police said Manish allegedly arranged the account in exchange for a 10 per cent commission on the cheated amount and subsequently withdrew the money transferred from the account of accused Kunal Kumar.

The investigation subsequently led to the arrest of all three accused -- Kunal Kumar, Manish Kumar and Jeet

Police said further investigation is in progress to trace the remaining associates, establish the complete money trail, and trace and recover the remaining proceeds of crime.

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