Pune: Pimpri Chinchwad Cyber Cell Arrests Four for Rs 25 Lakh Fraud Impersonating Anti-Narcotics Officials

Reported By Varad Bhatkhande

Pimpri Chinchwad, 7th August 2024: The Pimpri Chinchwad Police Commissionerate’s (PCPC) Cyber Cell has arrested a group that duped a woman out of nearly ₹25 lakhs by impersonating Anti-Narcotics Cell officials. The group falsely claimed that a parcel sent in her name to a foreign country contained drugs and narcotics. They threatened her with arrest and extorted money from her bank account.

The Cyber Cell has arrested four accused individuals from Ahmednagar, Jalgaon, and Surat. The arrested individuals are Swaroop Ashok Khambekar (42, resident of Kopargaon, Ahmednagar), Pushkar Chandrakant Pakhale (resident of Chalisgaon, Jalgaon), Monik Bharatbhai Rangolia (resident of Surat), and Kausik Mansukhbhai Borad (resident of Surat).

The case was initially reported by a woman from Hinjawadi to the Hinjawadi Police Station. The Cyber Cell took over the investigation and subsequently made the arrests.

According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sandeep Doiphode, a woman from Hinjawadi received a call from one of the accused, who claimed to be from FedEx Corp. The caller informed her that a parcel sent in her name to Iran had been intercepted by Mumbai Customs and contained drugs, narcotics, five credit cards, one laptop, and five expired Iranian passports.

The caller then began threatening her. Afraid, the complainant insisted she had not sent any parcel. The caller then claimed they would transfer the call to the Anti-Narcotics Cell of Mumbai Police. Another accused, pretending to be from the Anti-Narcotics Cell, informed her that her bank account was being used for money laundering and drug trafficking, and threatened her with arrest.

To verify her bank account, the impersonator instructed her to provide her account details for police assistance. Through this ruse, they obtained the details of two of her bank accounts. From these accounts, they withdrew ₹24,99,998. The woman soon realized the fraud and immediately reported the incident to the Hinjawadi Police Station.

The case was transferred to the PCPC’s Cyber Cell, which began investigating it. After tracing the funds transferred from the complainant’s account, they found that the money went to a man from Kopargaon, Ahmednagar. Cyber Cell officials went there and arrested the accused, Khambekar. During interrogation, Khambekar admitted that he, along with his accomplices, had colluded to commit this crime for financial gain.

Following this, the police obtained the details of the other suspects and arrested Pakhale, Rangolia, and Borad from Jalgaon and Surat. Upon interrogation, all the accused confessed to their involvement in the crime.

A case has been registered against the accused under the BNS Sections 336, 340 (forgery of documents or electronic records and using them as genuine), 318 (cheating), and 316 (criminal breach of trust), as well as the relevant sections of the Information Technology Act of 2000.

₹2 Crore Using SBI Account; 68 Cases Nationwide

The accused used a State Bank of India account to transfer money from the Hinjawadi woman’s account to theirs. When this account was investigated, it was found to have transactions exceeding ₹2 crore, and 68 cases were registered against the bank nationwide. In the past five months, the Cyber Cell of PCPC has arrested 50 suspects from across the country and solved 24 crimes. The Cyber Cell has urged citizens to be cautious of such phone calls. If they receive such calls, they should visit the nearest police station to verify the information and avoid sharing personal details under any circumstances.

This operation was conducted under the guidance of Pimpri Chinchwad Commissioner of Police Vinoy Kumar Choubey, Joint Commissioner of Police Dr Shashikant Mahavarkar, Additional Commissioner of Police Vasant Pardeshi, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sandeep Doiphode, and Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) Dr Vishal Hire. The team, led by Senior Police Inspector Anil Devde, included Assistant Police Inspector Pravin Swami, Police Sub-Inspector Sagar Poman, and Police Constables Deepak Bhosale, Atul Lokhande, Nitesh Bichewar, Saurabh Ghate, Shrikant Kabule, and Swapnil Khanase, all from the Cyber Cell, PCPC.