Pune: 11 Accused Convicted in Cosmos Bank Cyber Attack Case; Rs 94 Crore Was Transferred Illegally

Pune, 23rd April 2023: Eleven accused in the Cosmos Bank cyber attack case have been convicted and sentenced to imprisonment by the Pune district court. The cyber crime branch of the Pune police had made an arrest in the case, which saw a total amount of Rs 94.42 crore being stolen by the accused. One of the accused had died before the verdict was announced.

The convicted accused include Fahim Mehfooz Sheikh of Bhiwandi in Thane district, Fahim Azim Khan and Sheikh Mohammad Abdul Jabbar, both residents of Sillod in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad) district, Mahesh Sahebrao Rathod of Bhokar in Nanded district, Naresh Lakshminarayan Maharana of Virar in Palghar district, Mohammad Syed Iqbal Hussain Jafri alias Ali of Hamalwada in Nanded, Eustace Augustine Vaz of Mumbai, Abdula Afsar Ali Sheikh of Mira Road in Thane district, Bashir Ahmed Abdul Aziz Shaikh of Byculla in Mumbai , Salman Mohammad Naeem Baig of Mumbra in Thane district, and Firoz Yasin Shaikh of Kalachowky in Mumbai.

Fahim Sheikh, Fahim Khan, Sheikh Jabbar, Mahesh Rathod, Naresh Maharana, Mohammad Jafri, and Eustace Vaz have been sentenced to simple imprisonment for four years, a fine of Rs. 50,000, simple imprisonment for three days in default of fine, and simple imprisonment for three years under the Information Technology Act, along with a fine of Rs. 100 and simple imprisonment for three days in default of fine.

Abdul Shaikh and Bashir Shaikh have been convicted under various sections and sentenced to four years simple imprisonment and three years simple imprisonment and a fine under the Information Technology Act, respectively.

Salman Baig and Feroze Shaikh have been sentenced to simple imprisonment for three years under the Information Technology Act, along with a fine.

The accused had transferred the amount to a foreign bank account, but the police were able to freeze the accounts with the assistance of the Hong Kong police. The accused in India withdrew the amount using forged debit cards.

The police had arrested 18 accused from Kolhapur, Ajmer, Indore, and Mumbai areas after investigating the case. The police had filed a chargesheet in the court with the help of CCTV footage and technical investigation.

The case was investigated under the guidance of Additional Commissioner of Police Deshpande, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber and EOW) Jyotipriya Singh, DCP (crime) Sambhaji Kadam, ACP Shivaji Pawar, Police Inspector Jairam Paigude, Sub-Inspector Sagar Panmand, and Constables Aslam Attar, Santosh Jadhav and others.

What is Cosmos Bank cyber attack case?

One of the largest cyber attacks ever seen on an Indian bank occurred on August 11, 2018, when numerous cloned debit cards from Cosmos Bank were used to carry out thousands of ATM transactions across India and 28 other countries over a seven-hour period. The transactions amounted to around Rs 78 crore, with more than 12,000 ATM transactions occurring outside of India and 2,800 transactions worth Rs 2.5 crore taking place in various locations throughout India. On August 13, 2018, it was discovered that an additional Rs 13.92 crore had been transferred to a Hong Kong-based entity via the Society for Worldwide Interbank Telecommunications (SWIFT) facility. Investigation revealed that the transactions outside of India were executed through Visa cards, while those within India were conducted through RuPay cards. A total of Rs 94 crore was embezzled in this case, which led to the filing of a complaint at the Chaturshringi police station, under sections 120B, 420, 467, 468, 469, 471, 34 of the Indian Penal Code, and other relevant sections of the Information Technology Act. 18 individuals have been arrested in connection with the case so far. In December 2018, a special investigation team (SIT) presented a 1,700-page chargesheet against nine accused persons. Later, two supplementary chargesheets were filed against nine other accused.

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