Five Arrested in Sambhal for Allegedly Laundering Cyber Fraud Money

A gang allegedly involved in laundering and adjusting money generated through cyber fraud has been arrested by the Cyber Police Station team in Sambhal. Five accused were arrested today during the action, according to the information shared by the Sambhal cyber police.

The Cyber Cell and Cyber Police Station teams had been continuously taking action against criminals involved in cyber fraud in Sambhal district. During this operation, Inspector Pushpendra of the Cyber Police Station received information that an active gang was involved in cyber fraud and was working with petrol pump operators to dispose of or adjust the money obtained through such fraud.

During the investigation, Rishabh Rastogi, the owner of a Jio petrol pump, informed the team that the account of his petrol pump had been put on hold. An audit had also revealed some suspicious transactions in the account.

Following this information, the team began monitoring the activities of the petrol pump operator. During questioning, it came to light that the operator was in contact with a cyber gang. The team then developed this information further and arrested five accused today.

The arrested accused have been identified as Manu Sharma, a petrol pump operator from Sambhal; Narendra Kumar, a petrol pump operator from Sambhal; Sunil Kumar, a petrol pump operator from Sambhal; Prashant Raghav, a resident of Pawansa and described as a local mastermind; and Aditya Mohan, a resident of Hazrat Nagar Garhi and also described as a local mastermind.

According to the information provided by the police, the accused had created a network through which money obtained from cyber fraud was deposited into new accounts used by the gang. Aditya Mohan and Prashant Raghav would then personally visit petrol pumps and transfer or deposit the fraud money into the petrol pump accounts.

In return, they would take cash from the operators equivalent to the money from the sale of fuel. Through this process, the gang allegedly converted the money obtained through cyber fraud into cash and disposed of it.

Four complaints have also been received against the Jio petrol pump, including complaints from Hyderabad and other parts of South India.

The police said that accused Prashant Raghav had earlier been sent to jail in 2020 in connection with a fake call centre and online fraud case registered at Baradari Police Station in Bareilly.

A large number of SIM cards and documents used for KYC have been recovered from the accused. The police said the accused used to persuade and mislead innocent people into opening bank accounts.

The team has also received information about some other masterminds linked to the gang in Delhi and Rajasthan. Further questioning is being carried out regarding them.

The information was shared by Vikas Chandra Tripathi, SP Sambhal.