UP: Cyber fraud racket busted; 2 held for extorting Rs 33 lakh from retired engineer

Muzaffarnagar: A cyber fraud racket was busted here on Thursday, with the arrest of two men who allegedly extorted Rs 33 lakh from a retired engineer by posing as ED and CBI officials, police said.

The arrested accused have been identified as Nikhil Goel, a resident of Dehradun, and Harprit Singh, a native of Chandigarh, while the mastermind of the gang, Raju, hailing from Uttarakhand, is absconding, Senior Superintendent of Police Sanjay Kumar said.

The police said they recovered 39 SIM cards, 21 ATM cards, 15 bank passbooks, 13 mobile phones, three cheque books, one scooter, and Rs 99,500 in cash from their possession.

During interrogation, it was revealed that the gang had duped victims of over Rs 46 crore across the country in as many as 44 cases, Kumar said.

According to the complaint lodged by the retired engineer at the Muzaffarnagar cyber crime police station on September 11, the accused posed as ED and CBI officers and "digitally arrested" him in connection with an alleged money laundering case.

They then extorted over Rs 33 lakh from him, police said.

A case has been registered against them under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and section 66 of the Information Technology Act.

The investigation revealed a large-scale scam involving crores of rupees, and efforts are underway to trace and arrest the kingpin Raju, police added.