STF arrests father-son duo from Jharkhand for duping Nainital resident of Rs 1.02 crore
PIONEEREDGE NEWS SERVICE | Dehradun
The cyber crime police station of the Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) arrested the father-son duo from Ranchi, Jharkhand for their alleged involvement in duping a Nainital resident of Rs 1.02 crore. The accused, identified as Ajay Kumar Sinha (58) and his son Saurabh Shekhar (28) residents of Sultanpur, Patna, were presented before the court and sent to judicial custody.
The deputy superintendent of police of cyber crime police station Ankush Mishra informed that the case began in March 2025 when a Nainital resident filed a complaint that unidentified callers posed as telecom officers and claimed to be acting under directions from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The victim was kept under digital arrest and over 10 days, the victim was made to transfer Rs 1.02 crore into multiple bank accounts. Investigators traced the transactions through banking records, IP addresses and communication data obtained from service providers and Meta. The inquiry revealed that the accused operated an NGO account in the name of Mahila Evam Gramin Vikas Kalyan Samiti, registered in Patna. The account, managed by Shekhar, received part of the defrauded money. Police also found that the accused used WhatsApp to keep victims under constant contact during digital arrest. Victims were instructed to follow guidelines and provide hourly updates. Funds were moved immediately to other accounts after being received. Preliminary investigation showed that several crore rupees were transacted through accounts linked to the accused.
Police confirmed that the accused are also named in seven other cyber fraud cases registered in Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Puducherry and Uttarakhand, including a digital arrest case in Ranchi involving Rs 55 lakh, as per Mishra. Further investigation is underway in coordination with police teams from other states, he added.
