The Anti-Bank Fraud Wing of Central Crime Branch on Saturday arrested a gang of six online scamsters operating from Delhi who swindled ₹2.13 crore from the wife of a former Chief Commissioner of Central Excise. They had committed the fraud posing as representatives of an insurance who were assigned the responsibility of disbursal of residual insurance amount on her husband.
“The victim was in utter shock and mentally under the control of the fraudsters on the other end. She had credited the money from her account on her own volition to the accounts which were dictated by the fraudsters for six months. Initially, there was no clue on who was involved in the fraud,” said a senior officer of Anti Bank Fraud Wing.
The police said Sudha Sridharan, 68, is a resident of Mandaveli and wife of the late J. Sridharan, who was Chief Commissioner of Central Excise. In March 2019, a person called the victim on her landline posing as an officer in a life insurance company. The caller told her that ₹19 lakh remained to be settled towards her insurance claim following the demise of her husband. She was made to credit a few lakhs to a fictitious account mentioned by the fraudster. Later, another caller asked her to transfer funds to another account.
The police officer said she went on transferring money as demanded by the fraudsters. She closed all fixed deposits and withdrew money from savings accounts — which were from retirement benefits. She even pledged her jewellery. Her daughter sensed trouble when she asked her daughter for money for the marriage of a domestic aid. Then her daughter verified and realised that her mother had been cheated.
The fraudsters made Ms. Sridharan deposit ₹2.13 crore into various bank accounts between March and October 2019.
A case was registered by the CCB. After meticulous analysis of various accounts and call detail records (CDRs), S. Prabakaran, Asst. Commissioner of Police, Anti Bank Fraud Investigation Wing, and his team camped in New Delhi for 15 days and arrested the six accused in various places in New Delhi.
The arrested were identified as Aman Prasad, 30, of Uttam Nagar; Pradeep Kumar, 30, Nangloi; Manojkumar, 45, Jeevan Park; Kuber Sharma alias Prince, 30, Mahendra Park; Himanshu Tyagi, 26, Vikas Nagar; and Rampal, 31, Uttam Nagar.
The accused were produced before a metropolitan magistrate in Patiala House Courts and were brought to the city after obtaining a transit warrant.
They were produced before a special court for CCB cases in Egmore and remanded in judicial custody until April 16.
“The fraudsters were working earlier with a call centre which dealt with calls of an insurance firm. They had created fictitious accounts and used SIM cards which were procured unauthorisedly. Further investigation is on,” said sources.
