The CID, Cyber Crime Unit of Odisha Crime Branch has resolved a ‘Digital Arrest’ financial fraud case involving an amount of Rs. 1 crore with the arrest of a fraudster from Telangana’s Nizamabad area.
On the complaint of Dr Ashok Kumar, a senior citizen of Berhampur, a case was registered and was under investigation. The fraudsters impersonated themselves as officers of TRAI and police personnel from Mumbai Cyber Crime Division and asked about one unknown mobile number linked to his Aadhar card accusing the same had been used for the procurement of Illegal Arms, MDM Drugs and for originating threatening calls to many people in Maharashtra for which he would have been punished under appropriate sections of law for a minimum period of three to seven years. They kept him in mental duress through a Video Call thereby plunging him to mental depression. They asked him to transfer all of his money to their given account for verification and later on the entire amount would be reverted to his account. Under immense mental pressure, he transferred all his savings to the fraudster’s account to the tune of Rs One Crore in two transactions.
The investigating team led by Inspector Abantimani Nayak, after analyzing the transaction details and working on other digital evidence had camped at Nizamabad and after verifying the details in the locality, successfully identified and arrested the perpetrator of the crime namely Abdul Saleem (33) S/O- Abdul Raseed of Yellammagutta, Nizamabad, Telangana.
“The accused is being produced before the Local Court at Telangana and will be brought on transit remand to Odisha. The investigating team seized various incriminating articles including a mobile Phone, 3 Indian SIM cards, One Saudi SIM card, a passbook from the State Bank of Hyderabad, a Passport, an Aadhar card, a PAN card, six Debit cards and a credit card,” the Crime Branch said in a press note.
On verification of the accused’s passport, the CID team ascertained that the accused had been to Saudi Arabia two times i.e. in 2017 and in 2024. From the NCRP Samanvaya portal, it was also ascertained that the same account is involved in more than 13 cyber incidents throughout the country.
“An investigation of the case is in progress. Our team will unearth other accomplices of this crime, its trans-India ramifications and the money trail,” the Crime Branch stated.
Odisha Crime Branch requests citizens not to be subjected to any such online threat/mental duress by fraudsters pretending themselves as officers of law enforcement agencies/ Customs/Excise /Telecom Regulatory Authority of India etc. and to report such matters at the nearest police stations.
