5 online fraudsters held; Rs 1.94 cr, five laptops, 19 mobiles seized

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 24

The Ludhiana police claimed to have busted a major fake online trading and betting racket and nabbed five suspects in this regard. The police recovered Rs 1.94 crore cash, 19 mobile phones, five laptops, a computer and two currency counting machines.

The suspects have been identified as Kushal Kumar (44) of Civil Lines, Sandeep Sethi (40) of Durgapuri, Haibowal, Onkar Singh (27) of Shankarpur mohalla and Dinesh Kumar (43) and Vivek Kumar (46), both local residents.

Joint Commissioner of Police (JCP) Saumya Mishra and Superintendent of Police Jasroop Kaur Bath addressed a press conference regarding the matter on Wednesday.

Mishra said the police had received a tip-off that the suspects had been committing fraud with people on the pretext of investing money in the share market and in sports betting through a betting app. When the police verified information, it came to fore that Kushal, Sandeep and Onkar had been indulging in illegal trading in the share market and they were possessing software of various companies.

The JCP said the suspect had also taken a bungalow on rent on the club road for running a racket where they had set up computers and other equipment to pursue trading for their customers. They had committed fraud with many people by siphoning off their money on the pretext of investment in the share market.

Mishra said initially, Onkar was arrested and then Kushal and Sandeep were arrested from their office at the Feroze Gandhi market. On their questioning, Dinesh and Vivek were also nominated in the case and were later arrested from their office in Millerganj.

“This is a big racket being run by the suspects. They are not only cheating people but also committing fraud with the government by evading taxes. The suspects are even duping people by investing their money on betting on various sports. Further investigation in the case may expose other names involved in the racket,” the JCP said.

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