Over Rs 12L siphoned off from bank account, three arrested by Chandigarh Cyber Crime Investigation Cell of Chandigarh police

Chandigarh, February 9

The Cyber Crime Investigation Cell (CCIC) of the UT police has arrested three natives of Maharashtra for siphoning off Rs12.65 lakh from a city resident’s bank account and further investing the money in cryptocurrency. One of the suspects is the victim’s relative.

The police had registered a cheating case earlier this month on a complaint of Rahul Rawat, who had stated that he, on behalf of his father, had gone to withdraw money from his account in Axis Bank, Sector 17. However, he was told that there was no money in his father’s account. On checking the bank statement, it was found that a total of Rs12.65 lakh was fraudulently withdrawn from the account on January 28, 29, 30 and 31.

The cyber cell initiated an investigation and found that the money was transferred to Mobikwik wallet and it was then sent to wallet of WazirX, a cryptocurrency exchange. The suspects further invested the money in cryptocurrency through Coin98 cryptocurrency wallet.

The police then conducted a raid at Nagpur, Maharashtra, and nabbed the three suspects, who have been identified as Aatish Ashok Rawat, Ayush Sanjay Gaikwad, both undergraduate students, and Nihal Dinkar Dohare, who works in an IT company.

DSP (CCIC) Rashmi Sharma Yadav said Aatish was the victim’s relative. The suspect managed to get access to the victim’s mobile phone and procured the bank details. “The suspects then managed to transfer the money from the bank account through net banking,” the DSP added.

During interrogation, the suspects revealed that they had deleted the Coin98 wallet after investing the money. “We have to recover the passwords to operate Coin98 wallet and further WazirX wallet to recover the money,” the cop added.

Meanwhile, the police have also informed the cryptocurrency exchanges concerned about the fraud. The suspects were produced in a court, which sent them to one-day police remand.