The police in Chhattisgarh’s Surajpur have uncovered a major cyber fraud network operating in 21 states after investigating into a suspected bank account belonging to a mule and tracing it back to a local educational organisation.
The case was uncovered after getting information from Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) and Joint Cyber Crime Coordination Platform. The investigation found that the bank accounts were used for possibly cyber fraud complaints, and the amount of suspicious transactions was over Rs 113.32 crore.
Police discovered that some of the purportedly fraudulent money got to a “mule” account in Surajpur. The account was reportedly operated by D N Chakradhari Education Development association at Surajpur branch of the bank, the State Bank of India. Investigators were able to connect the account to Devnarayan Chakradhari and Mahesh Kumar Chakradhari.
Police later took Mahesh Kumar Chakradhari into custody on the case. He was linked to the organisation and was long ago jailed in another cyber fraud, officials said.
Investigators are now investigating how much of the suspected fraud money went into the account, as well as where the money was deposited. Police are also investigating the account’s links with other bank accounts involved in the alleged network.
Devanarayan Chakradhari is on the run and police detachments are desperately searching for him. Other individuals with names that have surfaced in the investigation, are also under scrutiny.
The case has turned out to be a big hurdle for Surajpur police with complaints received by them against allegations involving around 150 people including account holders from 21 states. Additional arrests are not ruled out as investigators continue their investigation and more ties to the alleged cyber crime ring are uncovered, officials have said.