Three persons of Rajasthan arrested for fraud

The cyber cell of Solan police arrested three residents of Rajasthan for digitally arresting a Parwanoo resident and extracting Rs 18.65 lakh from him under the guise of investigating misuse of his Aadhaar card in a money laundering case.

The accused, Vinay Paliwal (26), Rahul Taylor (26), and Lokesh Khatik (33), all residents of Udaipur in Rajasthan, were apprehended on December 13 after Solan police secured their transit remand from Udaipur. They were produced in court the following evening, said Solan SP Gaurav Singh.

The incident dates back to October 8, when a resident of Mumbai, currently residing in Sector 3, Parwanoo, lodged a complaint with the Parwanoo police station. He claimed that he had received a call from a person who identified himself as Ajit Rao, from DHL courier service. Rao informed the complainant that his Aadhaar card had been used to send a parcel to China, which allegedly contained illegal drugs and other suspicious items, and was now in the custody of the Customs Department.

Rao then transferred the call to Vinay Kumar, who impersonated a CBI officer and explained that the complainant’s Aadhaar card had been misused in a money laundering case. Kumar told him that the card had been used by one Naresh Goyal in a money laundering operation involving Rs 538 crore and linked to a Canara Bank manager. He then demanded money for further investigation.

Threatened and under pressure, the complainant transferred Rs 18.65 lakh in instalments to Kumar’s bank account and sent him receipts of the payments. For nearly two weeks, the complainant was under digital arrest, constantly monitored via WhatsApp video calls, and was instructed to provide details about his daily activities.

On October 16, the fraudsters claimed the case was over and promised to return the money after taking 10 per cent as commission. However, when the complainant tried to contact them later, he realised that he had been scammed.

A case was registered at Parwanoo under Section 319 (2) of the BNS. Through technical investigation and cyber cell support, the police traced and arrested the three accused from Udaipur. The accused have been remanded to four days of police custody.

The police are also investigating the previous criminal records of the accused, and it has been revealed that the fraud network has been operating in Rajasthan and Gujarat for a long time. The network specifically targets residents of Himachal Pradesh and other states, extracting money by deceiving victims.

The stolen money was deposited into benami bank accounts, and further investigation revealed that around Rs 40 lakh had been transferred into these accounts. Additionally, the kingpin of the network is suspected of laundering up to Rs 3 crore through cryptocurrency exchanges. The investigation is ongoing, and the amount defrauded could increase as the probe progresses.