The Cyber Crime Police, Hyderabad, on Sunday busted a lottery racket operated by a Pakistan-based gang and arrested seven persons for assisting the gang. The masterminds, Ali Bhai and Harul of Pakistan and operating from Saudi Arabia, the police said.
The arrested persons were identified as, Amarjit Singh (40), Vasanthala Narendra (37), Patel Mahendra Kumar (41), T Shanker (34), G. Dayamani (44), D. Chandra Sekhar (37) and E. Veerabhadra Rao (33) all from the city. The police recovered Rs. 20.5 lakh cash, 73 debit cards and eight cell phones from them.
The fraud came to light when a woman from Ameerpet, lodged a complaint with the police alleging that the accused collected Rs.13. 17 lakh from her promising to handover Rs. 25 lakh, which they said, she had won in Airtel Company draw.
The modus operandi of was that the gang members used to call selected persons on their mobile phones from Saudi Arabia using Pakistani mobile SIM cards saying they have won a lottery of Rs. 25 lakh. The gang collected the details of gullible persons from Narendra and Amarjit who would gather it from Shanker and a few other accused.
Later, the gang members would convince the people saying that they would have to pay money towards bank clearance, customs duty, security check and Income Tax and ask them to deposit money in a few bank accounts held by other gang members, CCS Deputy Commissioner of Police Pala Raju said.
Once the amount is deposited Narendra and Amarjit, would withdraw money after deducting their commission and handover the remaining amount to Mahendar who would sent it to Delhi through hawala transactions.
Later, on the instructions of Ali Bhai and Harul, the agents at Delhi will route the money back into the country through hawala transactions, the official added. The gang cheated many persons in this manner.
The arrests were made by CCS Inspector Majid Ali Khan along with his staff under the supervision of DCP CCS, Pala Raju.
Two injured in group clashMild tension prevailed at Teegalkunta in Falaknuma on Sunday when two groups of the same community clashed over a trivial issue. Two persons sustained injuries in the incident. Trouble broke out when two groups led by Irfan, a history-sheeter of Falaknuma police station and Md. Wasi Khan, a businessman clashed after heated arguments while elders were trying to settle the issue between them. The Falaknuma police rushed to the spot and resorted to mild lathi-charge to disperse them.
Two arrested on betting chargesThe Rajiv Gandhi International Airport police on Sunday arrested two persons who organised a cockfight and bet money on it at Satamrai in Shamshabad. An amount of Rs. 2,000, seven bikes and a mobile phone were seized from them.
Man attackedUnidentified persons attacked a man named Yadiah (25) in early hours of Sunday after entering into his house at Shamshabad, the police said. Doctors treating him stated that his condition is critical. The police said that Yadiah, a labourer of Rallaguda near RGIA, was sleeping at that time. He sustained serious injuries in the attack and was rushed to OGH.
