PIONEER NEWS SERVICE/Dehradun
Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) arrested six men on charges of committing cyber fraud from Kathgodam in Nainital. The two accused Jatin Pandey (21) and Kamal Kishore (20) belong to Nainital district while Harsh Bora (19), Kaushal Kishore (25), Prem Kumar (20) and Karan Kewat (22) belong to Uttar Pradesh. The STF recovered six laptops, 23 mobile phones, 17 SIM cards, nine bank account details with QR code scanners and other equipment during the arrest. The senior superintendent of police of STF Navneet Singh Bhullar said that the accused used fake bank accounts, SIM cards and gaming websites to commit cyber fraud. They opened bank accounts in different names, used QR code scanners and transferred money from victims’ accounts. The suspects stayed in a rental room in Amritpur area of Nainital, where they used their equipment for financial crimes. Jatin, Kamal and Harsh reportedly received payments for their participation who were allegedly working for two men, Sachin Mittal and Priyansh Sharma, who had also trained them in using bank accounts and phone numbers for fraud. The SSP said that as per preliminary investigation, the suspects used WhatsApp messages to transfer account details and money. The bank accounts were opened under different names and used for financial transactions. Some of these accounts were previously frozen due to complaints of fraud. The suspects used two bank accounts of Utkarsh Bank that remain active. He said that the suspects were working for Mittal and Sharma, who provided training, equipment and financial incentives in exchange for their participation in the crimes. Bhullar said that the police have registered a case against the suspects under IPC 318(4), 61(2), 3(5) of BNS 2023 and Section 66(D) of IT Act. The suspects are in police custody and further action is underway, he added.
