Jagatsinghpur: Three persons were arrested from Kujang area of Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district by a cyber police team from West Bengal for allegedly duping a resident of Kolkata of Rs 1.09 crore in the name of ‘digital arrest.’
The arrest was made by a team of Bidhannagar Cyber Police from West Bengal. The accused, identified as Akash Nath, Neelakantha Nayak, and Manoranjan Parida, were arrested from Kujang’s Balarampur and Balia areas after a two-day operation. The fraudsters had allegedly posed as officers from the CBI, ED, and TRAI, and digitally ‘arrested’ the victim under the pretext of a money laundering investigation.
Subhendu Goswami, a resident of Kolkata’s Lake Town, lodged a complaint with the Bidhannagar Cyber Police. As per the complaint, the three had contacted him over the phone and falsely accused him of being linked to Naresh Goyal in a money laundering case. Threatening arrest, they forced Goswami into transferring around Rs 1.09 crore in five instalments through RTGS.
The three allegedly continued the extortion attempt by asking him to mortgage his gold, raising further suspicion. Suspecting foul play, Goswami filed a complaint with the cyber crime police.
Acting swiftly, a four-member special team from Bidhannagar Cyber Police tracked the digital footprints and traced the accused to Kujang in Odisha. For two days, the team camped undercover and coordinated with local police before the three accused persons.
The accused operated the scam using mobile phones and SIM cards procured from Odisha, which have now been seized by the police. Preliminary investigations reveal that these devices were actively used in the execution of the fraudulent transactions.
The three were taken on transit remand by West Bengal police for further interrogation in Kolkata.