Panchkula Rs 3.16-crore cyber fraud: 2 more held from Hyderabad, total arrests reach 5
Duo allegedly linked to WhatsApp ZIP-file scam targeting construction firm; police trace Rs 1.86 crore of fraud amount
Panchkula Police have arrested two more accused from Hyderabad in a Rs 3.16-crore cyber fraud case involving a Panchkula-based construction firm, taking the total number of arrests to five.
The latest accused have been identified as Punnapurreddy Praveen Prasad Raja, a resident of Hyderabad, and Vakanagi Reddy, a native of East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh who is currently residing in Hyderabad. Both were arrested and produced in court before being sent to judicial custody.
According to the FIR, the fraudsters targeted R.S. Construction, a firm executing railway bridge contracts with offices in Jind and Panchkula. The accused allegedly sent a ZIP file to the company’s WhatsApp account while posing as a steel supplier.
A day later, messages containing a cloned chat history of company partner Vijay Chilana were sent from another number. The messages allegedly directed the company’s accountant, Ekta, to transfer funds.
Between August 6 and 7, a total of Rs 3.16 crore was transferred across five bank accounts before Chilana noticed bank alerts and stopped further transactions.
According to DCP Crime and Traffic Amrinder Singh, the investigation found that ₹1.06 crore of the fraud amount had been routed to the account of Integrated Women Development Society, while another Rs 80 lakh was transferred to the account of Punnapurreddy Prakashasthrulu Private Limited.
Acting on technical leads, a Cyber Crime team led by SHO Yudhveer Singh traced the two suspects to Hyderabad and arrested them.
Three other accused — Devarajan A.P. of Chennai, Pandishwari of Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu and Sushil Ganjanan of Kolhapur in Maharashtra — had earlier been arrested from Chennai in connection with the case.
Commissioner of Police Pankaj Nain said police teams were conducting raids at multiple locations to trace the remaining accused. The role of other suspects identified during the investigation is also being examined.
The case was registered on August 8 at Cyber Crime Police Station, Sector 20, Panchkula, under Sections 318(4), 319(2), 336(3), 338 and 340(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Police said the investigation was continuing.
