Five men have been arrested for allegedly providing bank accounts to a Chinese cyber-fraud syndicate that cheated a victim of Rs 13.80 crore in the name of investment, officials said on Tuesday.
With the latest arrests, 40 accused have been arrested so far in the case, police said, adding that six mobile phones were recovered from the accussed.
According to police, the accused had connected with the cyber-fraud syndicate through Telegram and provided bank accounts that were used to receive and further transfer proceeds of cyber fraud.
The case dates back to November 4, 2024, when the complainant approached the Cyber Crime East police station, alleging that he had been cheated of around Rs 13.80 crore on the pretext of investment. A case was subsequently registered and the investigation was taken up by the Special Cyber Crime Unit, Sector 56.
Accordign to police, acting on technical evidence and analysis of the banking trail, the police team arrested the five accused — Neeraj, Suraj Saroj, Surjeet Kumar alias Manas, Prashant Sharma and Tej Pratap Singh Shekhawat.
Neeraj was arrested from Delhi on August 21, while Suraj Saroj was arrested from Dehradun and Surjeet Kumar alias Manas from Shimla. Prashant Sharma and Tej Pratap Singh Shekhawat were arrested from the Dehradun-Shimla area on August 22, they said.
The banking trail revealed during interrogation showed that around Rs 5 lakh of the defrauded amount had been transferred to the current bank account of Gupta Industries, police said.
According to police, accused Nikhil Gupta disclosed that he had sold the bank account to Manjeet Dadyan for Rs 50,000. Dadyan then sold it to Neeraj for Rs 60,000.
Neeraj further sold the account to Surjeet through Suraj for Rs 90,000, police said.
ACP Cyber Gaurav Phogat said interrogation revealed that Surjeet Kumar alias Manas was in contact with people involved in the Chinese cyber-fraud network through Telegram.
“Surjeet, along with his associates Suraj Saroj, Prashant Sharma and Tej Pratap Singh Shekhawat, provided bank accounts to cyber fraudsters and assisted in executing cyber fraud activities while remaining connected with the network,” he said.
The bank accounts provided by the accused were used to receive and subsequently transfer proceeds of cyber fraud, the ACP said.
Surjeet had allegedly been added to different Telegram groups by a person identified as Joy. He shared bank account details in these groups and received payments in cryptocurrency and through Binance, Phogat said.
Surjeet also received the money in cash from different locations through one of his associates, he said.
“Detailed interrogation and technical investigation regarding financial transactions carried out through bank accounts, the defrauded amount, other co-accused and the wider cyber fraud network are ongoing,” the ACP said.
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