The Cyber Crime Police have arrested five individuals from Patna in connection with a cyber fraud case where a Puducherry-based businessman was cheated of Rs 30.97 lakh. The accused—Rahulkumar Singh, Uttam Vishal Kumar, Rayushan Kumar, Abhishek Kumar, and Dayand—were apprehended following a detailed investigation.
The victim, businessman Sethuraman from Puducherry, had been contacted via WhatsApp by persons posing as representatives of Vizag Steel Sales. They lured him with offers of discounted goods and convinced him to transfer Rs 30,97,264 to their account. After the payment was made, the fraudsters went off the grid.
The case was registered on July 3, 2024, and the investigation was led by Inspector S Diagaradjane. Using advanced cyber tools, the police traced the fraudulent transaction to a UCO Bank account in Bihar, eventually identifying the accused in Patna.
A special team led by Inspector BC Kirtty conducted raids in Patna, arresting the suspects and seizing Rs 34 lakh in cash, mobile phones, debit cards, bank passbooks, chequebooks, a Wi-Fi dongle, and notebooks containing customer data.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the accused were part of a larger syndicate conducting online scams by impersonating representatives of companies like Vizag Steels, Zuari Cement, and Jindal Steels. The total estimated fraud amount is believed to run into several crores.
The arrested individuals were brought to Puducherry and remanded to judicial custody. DIG Sathyasundaram and SSP (I/C) Praveen Kumar Tripathi have praised the Cyber Crime team for successfully cracking the case.
