With the arrest of two accused, the Hauz Khas Police on Thursday claimed to have busted a gang of online cheats and seized incriminating articles from their possession.
Police have identified the accused as Premnath Sharma, alias, Arun Singh, a resident of Ekta Vihar, Meethapur Extension, Delhi, and Sabir, alias, Akbar Alam, a resident of Shyam Colony (Part IV), Faridabad, Haryana.
Divulging details, police said the complainant alleged that she was in touch with one Eric Hasson from Chicago through Viber for marriage. Hasson told her that he was sending a parcel containing clothes, wedding ring, laptop, purse, gold set and a cheque of $4,00,000 to buy a house, said police, adding that she trusted that person, who convinced and told her that he would come to Delhi to marry her.
After that she received a call from a person, who represented himself as a custom officer from Chhatarpati Shivaji International Airport and told her to send Rs. 60,000 as custom charges for clearing her parcel and she sent the money online accordingly, said police, adding the alleged person also sent him fake receipts of custom office Mumbai to win her trust via e-mail.
After that the alleged officer again called her saying that there is gold also, so she will have to pay more money, following which the complainant sent Rs. 2,20,000 online in the account of one Raj Kumar as per his demand, said police.
When the complainant received subsequent demands for money, she smelled something suspicious and reported the matter to police, following which a case under section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered at the Hauz Khas Police Station and investigation taken up.
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Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP), South District, Nupur Prasad said during the course of investigation, the police team verified and obtained the details of account holder, wherein the complainant had transferred the money from ICICI Bank, Kalkaji, Delhi.
"It revealed that on June 16, accused had made a transaction through self cheque of Rs. 3,50,000 from ICICI Bank, Tilak Nagar Branch, Main Nazafgarh Road, Delhi. On further scrutiny of the account statement, it was found that transactions of around Rs. 4-5 lakhs are being made from the said account every day through various modes," the ADCP said.
In order to arrest the culprits involved in such criminal activities, a team comprising Inspector Anand Swarup, Sub Inspector Naveen Kumar, SI Arvind, PSI Varun Gulliya, Head Constable Harender and Constable Jitender was constituted under the supervision of Inspector Satinder Sangwan, Station House Officer of the Hauz Khas Police Station.
"During investigation, the police team obtained mobile number of accused persons, analysed their CDRs and developed criminal intelligence. The police continued its efforts, which revealed that accused are trying to open another fake account in ICICI at Nehru Place Branch," said ADCP Prasad in a statement issued here.
"On August 3, the police team laid a trap in Nehru Place and arrested one of the accused Premnath Sharma and at the instance of Sharma, his associate Sabir was also arrested and two fake PAN cards, copies of Election Cards, two cheque books, and three mobile phone were seized from their possession, said the ADCP.
ADCP Prasad further said, "During interrogation, the accused disclosed that they used to procure fake ID with the help of their other accomplices Monu and Prakash. The accused are not having any permanent address in Delhi and keep on changing their address after opening fake bank accounts. They further disclosed names of their other associates as Raj Kumar and one foreign national, who are active members of their gang."
The ADCP said further investigation is in progress to arrest Raj Kumar and other co-accused.