PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/Haldwani
The Nainital police have busted an alleged international cybercrime racket in Mukhani and arrested six people, including the alleged gang leader on Sunday. Two juveniles were also taken into protective custody. The police said that the gang had carried out cyber fraud of more than Rs five crore in the last four months by using mule bank accounts and an unauthorised app.
The Nainital senior superintendent of police Manjunath TC informed the media that the action was taken under Operation Hotspot, a special drive against cybercrime and suspicious bank accounts. He informed that late on the night of September 5, a joint team of Mukhani police, SOG and the Cyber Cell raided a house in Laxman Vihar Colony after receiving specific information. The accused arrested in the case have been identified as Rahul Yadav (30) from Panchvati Nagar, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, Harshit Kumar (26) of Nainital, Kamal Goswami (21) of Nainital, Sahil Kumar (21) of Kanda, Bageshwar, currently residing in Damuwadhunga, Nainital, Mohammed Ayan (20) of Korbaku village, Bhojpur, Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh and Mohammed Shubhan (24) of Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh.
The SSP said that the kingpin, Yadav had earlier been jailed in a case registered in Indore. According to police, the gang bought USDT cryptocurrency and sold it through an unauthorised app called UMASTER. Police said that the accused used Telegram to access the app. They also collected bank accounts, ATM cards, cheque books and passbooks from people by offering them a commission.
The police seized Rs 1.18 lakh in cash, 11 mobile phones, a laptop, an iPad, 24 ATM cards, 12 SIM cards, six cheque books, four passbooks and 16 bank deposit slips. Police said that two other suspects are still wanted. A case has been registered under the IT Act and BNS.
