Cop arrested for targeting senior citizens at ATMs

Jammu and Kashmir Police on Monday arrested a serving policeman in Jammu for allegedly duping senior citizens by misusing their ATM cards.

Rs 2.02 lakh duped from senior citizens was recovered from the accused, who was having five ATM cards of different people in his possession at the time of his arrest.

A police official informed that the case came to light when an elderly person, identified as Prem Nath Raina, a resident of Barnai, reported to Chinore police post that an unknown person had used his ATM card to withdraw money from his bank account.

An FIR under Section 318(4) of the BNS Act was registered at Domana police station.

“A dedicated investigation team analysed the CCTV footage from ATMs and petrol pumps, conducted technical scrutiny and gathered intelligence. These efforts led to the identification and arrest of the main suspect, Pardeep Singh Thakur, a resident of Shankli in Doda district, currently residing in Bakshi Nagar, Jammu,” the official said.

Shockingly, the accused, a serving police official, was found to be the mastermind behind the scam. Police official said his modus-operandi involved targeting elderly citizens or individuals unfamiliar with ATM operations. “Posing as a helpful bystander, he would gain access to their PINs, swap their ATM cards with similar-looking ones and later use the stolen cards to withdraw money. When the daily ATM withdrawal limit was reached, the accused would exploit the stolen cards further by using them at petrol pumps to extract more money,” revelaed the police official.

The investigation also revealed the involvement of two petrol pump employees who assisted the accused by swapping the stolen ATM cards in exchange for a share of the fraudulent proceeds.

All three suspects have been arrested, and further inquiries are ongoing. The police anticipate additional recoveries and arrests in the coming days.

Chargesheet filed against 8 in fraud case

The Crime Branch (CB) has filed three separate chargesheets in three cases against eight accused for duping complainants of Rs 1.55 crore on the pretext of selling land in Jammu.

On written complaints by Tarsem Singh Chib, Pankaj Sharma and Sanjay Choudhary, three separate cases were registered by the Crime Branch for criminal conspiracy, cheating and frauds on the pretext of providing land at different places in Jammu, which was already sold to other parties.

The CB has completed investigations in all three cases and produced three separate challans in the court of law for judicial determination. All eight accused against whom chargesheets have been filed belong to Jammu district.

The Crime Branch collected documentary as well as oral evidence besides obtaining expert opinion from Forensic Science Laboratory and applied scientific-aid to investigation.