In a significant crackdown on financial cyber fraud, the Kolkata Police have dismantled a sophisticated loan racket that was allegedly exploiting a central government scheme to dupe small business owners. The operation led to the arrest of five individuals from Karnataka and Bihar in a late-night raid conducted on Friday.
The Raid and Arrests
The police action targeted a housing complex located near the Santoshpur-Mukundapur area, off the EM Bypass in Kolkata. The arrested individuals have been identified as Amir Khan from Bihar, and four from Karnataka: Rathin C D, Md Nizamuddin Siddiqui, Vilas Shinde, and Madhusudhan H R. According to authorities, the accused had been operating from a business complex in the city for several months, while residing in nearby residential complexes.
Investigations revealed that this group had a history of running similar fraudulent operations in other parts of the country, specifically in Gujarat and Delhi, before setting up their base in Kolkata. The police seized a total of 14 mobile phones from the accused, which included eight Android smartphones and six keypad phones. These devices are believed to have been instrumental in their illegal activities.
Modus Operandi of the Scam
The gang's scam revolved around the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY), a flagship government scheme designed to provide loans to small and micro enterprises. The accused allegedly contacted potential victims, primarily small-time businesspersons, with offers to facilitate loans under this scheme.
Through misrepresentation, they would either extract upfront fees or gather sensitive personal and financial details from their targets. The police are currently focusing their investigation on understanding the complete method used to contact victims, tracing the flow of illicit money, and determining if more members or handlers were involved in the network.
Digital Trail and Legal Action
A critical part of the ongoing probe involves the forensic examination of the seized mobile phones. Officers are scouring the digital records to identify all the victims who fell prey to this racket and to recover transaction trails that could lead to the recovery of defrauded money.
The case was officially registered at the Cyber Police Station on January 7, following a complaint that originated from the East Jadavpur police station area. The breakthrough came after the arrest of some local conduits in a separate but similar case. These individuals were running fake call centres on behalf of the gang. Based on interrogations of these earlier arrests, police obtained crucial leads that pointed to the East Jadavpur residence, leading to the successful raid.
The accused have been charged under multiple sections of the Information Technology Act, 2000, including sections 66, 66C, 66D, 84B, and 43. Additionally, they face charges under the new Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, under sections 61(2), 319(2), 318(4), 336(2), 336(3), 338, and 340(2). This multi-pronged legal action underscores the serious nature of the cyber-financial crimes they are accused of committing.
