On Saturday, 26th June, Powai police nabbed three men from Noida, Uttar Pradesh, for allegedly swindling Rs 20.47 lakh from a 84-year-old senior citizen of Powai on the pretext of sending money to help poor COVID-19 patients in India. The accused created a fake account on social media, befriended the victim of the fraud, and then contacted them on their mobile phone.
The men who were arrested have been identified as Rahul Vinod Tiwari (21), Asim Shamshad Hussain (23), and Asif Wasim Khan (21). The accused were taken on transit remand from Noida and produced before a court in Andheri. The court remanded them in police custody till July 1st. Powai police are searching for the main accused.
Subramanian Raman (84), a resident of Powai, was contacted by a woman named Vetan Megan on social media and then his mobile phone, between April 28 and April 30. She said that she was speaking from London and told him that she wanted to help the poor COVID-19 patients in India. “She said that she is sending me 130,000 Pounds (one crore and forty lakh rupees) and you donate that money to help poor COVID-19 patients in India,” he said.
After this, a woman named Bijoy Kaman and a stranger approached Raman under the guise of customs clearance and income tax officials and asked him to deposit a total of Rs 20,47,810 in various accounts. Raman rushed to the Powai police station and registered a case of fraud after realizing that he had been cheated due to non-receipt of customs clearance & income tax and repeated demands for money.
Powai police were investigating the case under sections 420 (fraud), 34 (involving more than one person for the same purpose), and Information Technology Act 66 (a), (d).
“During the investigation of this crime, out of the amount sent by the plaintiff, it was found that Rs 3,44,000 had been deposited in Rahul Tiwari’s Canara Bank account in Noida Sector 63. The technical analysis of the mobile used to open the account revealed that the suspect in the case was from Noida,” said Aburao Sonawane, senior police inspector, Powai police station.
Based on the information received, the Crime Disclosure Officer and senior police inspector Vinod Patil and Crime Disclosure Squad were immediately dispatched to Noida.
“Rahul Tiwari was arrested on the basis of technical information. During interrogation, we found out that he had opened accounts in 7 banks, ie. HDFC Bank, Canara Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI Bank, Indian Bank, Union Bank, and Indian Overseas Bank, at the behest of Asim Samshad Hussain in the name of ISM, in return for which he was paid Rs 40,000” This was stated by the Inspector of Police, Shrikrishna Harugade.
Rahul Tiwari had given all the ATMs, passbooks, checkbooks, and SIMs of the mobile attached to the account to Asim Hussain.
“Asim Hussain was taken into custody and was interrogated. He said that he had given the kit to Asif Wasim Khan. Asif Khan was arrested from Noida, Sector 63 after a technical investigation. A total of 16 ATM Cards of various banks from his residence, 16 passbooks, 06 checkbooks, 02 Aadhar cards, and 4 mobile phones used in the crime have been seized” Speaking about this, senior police inspector Vinod Patil said.
How the crime was committed?
“Asim Hussain opens different bank accounts of different names and buys all the kits of the account and the mobile number attached to the bank by paying a certain amount to the account holder. All these kits are given by Asif Khan. Asif uses the ATM card in the kit to withdraw the amount deposited in the account and hand it over to the main accused” police officials said while talking about the crime.
Under the guidance of Maheshwar Reddy, Deputy Commissioner of Police Circle – 10, immediate action was taken by Assistant Commissioner of Police Sakinaka Division-Mukund Pawar, Senior Inspector of Police Powai Police Thane-Aburao Sonawane, Inspector of Police-Shrikrishna Harugade, Senior police inspector- Vinod Patil.
(Inputs by Saad Ansari)