3 held in Rs 1.05 cr fraud involving farmer

A team from the cyber police station in Sriganganagar has arrested three individuals from Jaipur in connection with Rs 1.05 crore fraud involving a farmer, Sohan Singh.

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Deputy Superintendent of Police Kuldeep Walia said the fraudsters transferred the money to two bank accounts in Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh). He said on the same day, the money was further moved across multiple accounts and eventually withdrawn. Following the investigation, three suspects — Mohit Soni, Kishan Singh Rajawat and Ajay Prajapat, all residents of Jaipur — were arrested.

According to Walia, Rajawat had provided the account details of Soni and Prajapat to the fraudsters in exchange for a payment of Rs 10,000 each. On November 16, Rs 5 lakh was deposited into both of their accounts. Rajawat then took Soni and Prajapat to the bank, where they withdrew Rs 5 lakh each and handed it over to him. However, Rajawat only paid them Rs 7,000 each in return.

It was later revealed Mangi Lal from Jodhpur was waiting outside the CCTV range of the bank. Rajawat took a portion of his share and handed the remaining amount to Mangi Lal. The police are now tracing Rajawat’s call details to locate Mangi Lal.

Sohan Singh, who had recently sold his immovable property, reported to the police last month he had been “digitally arrested” by callers claiming to be CBI officials. These callers falsely interrogated him about a large sum of money deposited into his bank accounts. Sohan said he was duped of Rs 1.05 crore in the “digital arrest” on November 15. His wife, Jaswinder Kaur, later filed a complaint at the cybercrime police station in Sriganganagar.

By the time the police traced the bank accounts involved, the fraudsters had already transferred the amount to other accounts. However, after contacting bank officials, the police were able to freeze Rs 18 lakh that was still in one of the accounts.

The investigation revealed the money had been deposited into a Bhopal-based bank account, which also received similar deposits from other victims around the same time. Around Rs 4 crore from multiple victims had been funnelled into this account, including Rs 80 lakh from Maharashtra and Rs 3.25 crore from Telangana.

The police said they are continuing their investigation into the broader network of cyber criminals involved in this operation.