2 youths arrested for duping private bank of Rs 18.92 lakh in Chandigarh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 20

Two fraudsters have been arrested by the Cyber Crime Cell of the police on the charge of duping a private bank of Rs 18.92 lakh posing as a regular client of the bank. The police have seized an SUV and gold jewellery purchased with the amount.

SUV, gold recovered

The police have recovered a Mahindra Thar, four gold rings, Rs 5 lakh in cash and four mobile phones from the accused.

The accused have been identified as Amarjeet Singh (31), a resident of Karnal, and Kuldeep Pannu (30) of Hisar.

The complainant, Arpan Sharma, Branch Manager, Federal Bank, Sector 22, had reported that he had received a call from an unidentified person who posed as a bank client, Rajesh Makkar.

The caller claimed that he needed to transfer money on an urgent basis and could share the details through WhatsApp. Arpan, who was driving at that moment, shared the mobile number with his colleague, Aditya Verma, and asked him to speak with the client and do the needful.

The police said Aditya called up the accused, who shared the details of the account to which he wanted to transfer the money. To trick the bank staff, the accused uploaded Makkar’s picture as DP (display picture), which made the bank official believe him to be a genuine client.

The bank staff transferred the money and later, when the accused asked them to transfer more money, they got suspicious. The bank staff called up Makkar on his mobile number registered with the bank and found that they had been duped.

The police were informed about the incident and a case was registered at the cybercrime police station.

During investigation, the call details of the mobile number were obtained and it was found that the location of the mobile phone was in the Delhi NCR.

The bank statement of the account of Rajesh Makkar (a regular client of Federal Bank) revealed that Rs 9,57,000 had been transferred to some account in IndusInd Bank and Rs 9,35,000 to a Canara Bank account. The police also found that gold was purchased with part of the amount and the rest was withdrawn through ATMs in Delhi NCR.

The scrutiny of documents revealed that the mobile numbers registered with both banks were on the names of Manish Kumar, Rajaram Meena, Sonu Kumar, Arjun Singh and that multiple Sim cards were being used in these phones.

On the basis of technical surveillance and a tip-off, a raid was conducted in Delhi NCR and Karnal. The police succeeded in arresting Amarjit Singh and Kuldeep Pannu.

During interrogation, both accused disclosed that they were also involved in two other cases of cyber loan fraud, one registered in Rajasthan and the other in Saharanpur, UP (the victim in this case had committed suicide). Both had been arrested and later, released on bail. In August, 2022, they formed a new gang with their associates, Pankaj, Ashish, Ankur Jindal and Ravi, and duped various banks of about Rs 2 crore.