In a major crackdown on cybercrime, the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Patna arrested Harshit Mishra (27), an alleged cyber fraudster, during a high-security raid at Gauspur village in Bihar’s Supaul district on Saturday.
The operation, conducted in coordination with Supaul Police and the Cyber Crime Unit, involved over 30 officers and was kept under wraps to avoid alerting suspects. The EOU team arrived in luxury SUVs, maintaining secrecy while combing through the premises from 2 PM until late evening.
The raid led to the recovery of:
Hundreds of SIM cards
Multi-SIM installation devices
Multiple smartphones and laptops
Biometric authentication devices
A money-counting machine
A bank account with Rs7 crore, already frozen
A phone and laptop linked directly to the Rs7 crore account were seized and are being forensically examined. Investigators suspect Harshit was running a sophisticated cyber fraud network, camouflaged under the pretense of stock trading and political connections.
Harshit, who claimed to be a stock market trader, had taken money from his father by selling ancestral farmland. Locals noted his grand return to the village in a Scorpio SUV with a BJP flag, escorted by bouncers—an attempt to signal political clout and financial success.
He initially aligned with BJP but joined JD(U) three months ago, quickly rising to become State Secretary of the Yuva Morcha. Despite requesting a government bodyguard, authorities denied it after background verification.
Residents of Gauspur expressed disbelief at the arrest. “We knew he lived lavishly, but never imagined this was behind it,” one villager said. Harshit’s grandfather, Ghanshyam Mishra, was a former village head, and the family owned more than 50 bighas of land at one time.
Harshit has been taken to Patna for further interrogation. Authorities believe this is just the tip of the iceberg, with more arrests likely as forensic teams analyze digital trails and financial records.
The EOU has so far remained tight-lipped about the case, but sources confirm that this could lead to uncovering one of Bihar’s biggest cyber fraud networks to date.
