Kolkata : In February of this year, 63-year-old Subir Bhattacharya came to Cyber Cell Port Division to file a complaint that unknown miscreants impersonating officials of a nationalised bank had induced him to provide his bank details, OTP etc in order to update his KYC, telling him his bank account would be suspended if he failed to do so. As soon as he began sharing the bank details and OTP, Rs 2,99,997 was withdrawn from one of his accounts.
He then recieved another call, this time from supposed ‘Cyber Cell’ officials, who asked him to download an app called Anydesk so that his money could be refunded to his account. This time, they siphoned Rs 4,19,997 from another account. Which brought the total amount withdrawn from his two accounts to Rs 7,19,994.
Officers of Cyber Cell PD began analysing the complainant’s bank statements and realised that most of the stolen amount had been transferred to three accounts of a private bank, and Rs 1 lakh had been used to purchase items through Flipkart. Of the three accounts, one was found to be of the Kolkata region. The officers immediately paid a visit to the relevant branch of the bank, and were told that anyone residing in any part of India can open an account with the bank, without any physical verification. And if the transaction amount is less Rs 1 lakh per transaction, a simple online Aadhar verification is enough. Needless to say, all three suspect accounts were found to have been opened with fake documents, and the phone numbers linked to them were fake too.
Flipkart was contacted next, and Rs 16,000 was blocked and refunded to the complainant’s account. A total of four mobile phones and two LED Smart TVs had been purchased with the remaining amount. It was found that all the items had been delivered except the Smart TVs.
A case was registered at Watgunge Police Station and Flipkart was again contacted by Cyber Cell PD for contact details of the delivery hub which was supposed to deliver a TV the next day. On February 23, a team from Cyber Cell PD and Watgunge PS left for the Flipkart merchant hub at Asansol, where they contacted the delivery executive, who told them that two men, namely Balaram Gorai and Paresh Gorai, had collected the items from him. The executive was taken into confidence, and as he was handing over the LED TV to Paresh Gorai, the team nabbed the accused red-handed.
Following interrogation, Paresh took them to the residence of Balaram Gorai, the mastermind behind the fraud. However, Balaram was found to be absconding. Cyber Cell PD analysed his call details and found that one of his phone numbers had become operational in June, but he was not residing in his house. Paresh was taken into confidence in order to obtain accurate information about Balaram’s return. When he finally did return to his house, Balaram was left undisturbed by the team, so that he would begin living in the house again, with no suspicion that the police were on his trail.
On the night of September 7, based on social media posts and source information, a team from Watgunge PS and Cyber Cell PD left for Balaram’s house in Jamtara district of Jharkhand and surrounded his house from all directions. With help from local police, the team rushed into the house, blocking all exits. Balaram was nabbed from his bedroom and one of the mobile phones purchased with the stolen amount seized. The accused were produced in the court of SDJM Jamtara today and a one-day transit remand has been granted. Sharing the pictures of investigating team & of the two accused.
The photo of investigating team comprises of starting from the left, Sub Inspector Md. Asadullah Khan, Pinaki Dey Sarkar and Sergeant Manjit Goel. Seated, OC Watgunge PS, Inspector Ayan Bhowmick.
