The digital arrests began on March 12, when the elderly man received multiple unknown calls from officials from the Telecom Regulatory Agency of India (TRAI) and the Maharashtra Police Station.
The caller claimed that the pilot was raised several times against the elderly and arrested him immediately. The scammers showed fake court documents and orders via video calls to trick retired surgeons into virtual hearings.
During a false hearing, the victim was forced to liquidate all fixed deposits. He transferred large sums to three designated bank accounts, believing he was addressing the issue, instead he was threatened with serious legal consequences and harm to his family. A total of Rs 342 crore was defrauded and a case was registered.
Under the supervision of ACP (IFSO) Vivekanand Jha, Deputy Commissioner of Police (IFSO) Hemant Tiwari formed a team. “During the inquiry, it was found that the money had been transferred to 185 accounts across the country, including accounts in Kerala, Gujarat, Odisha, Bihar and other states,” an official told TOI.
The amount of money being cheated was frozen in the recipient’s account and the process of reversing the funds began, thus bringing back Rs 22 crore. “Assam account ended up getting about Rs 11 crore from an Assam account.” As of now, about Rs 4 lakh has been successfully recovered from it.
Police identified two suspects while analyzing digital footprints and conducting technical surveillance. They then conducted a raid in Ghaziabad and arrested Amit Sharma, also known as Rahul.
Further investigations found the involvement of another suspect, Hari Swargiary, arrested in Guwahati, Assam. “During the investigation, multiple tiers of accounts were found. When we asked the account holders of the transfer funds, they found that they sold their account details to Sharma. After Sharma was captured, he revealed that he shared the details with Swargiary.”
The survey also showed that Swargiary had contact with fraudsters in Nepal and Dubai.
Sharma is a resident of Anand Vihar, Delhi and Swargiary, and a B.Sc graduate resides in Assam.
During the operation, up to three phones, SIM cards and other digital documents related to fraudulent activities were captured.
