Gang Stealing Money From Dormant Bank Accounts Busted, Pune Police Arrest 8

The cyber crime cell of Pune police arrested eight people on Tuesday for allegedly committing fraud worth over Rs 216 crore by stealing details from dormant bank accounts through multiple banks.

The gang was busted after a team from the Cyber Crime Cell got information that some people were attempting to sell data from dormant accounts.

As a result, a trap was set, and eight people were arrested at first for allegedly going to the location in Pune to sell the data. After detaining these suspects, it was discovered that they were involved in the scam with others, so more suspects were arrested at Pune and Mumbai railway stations.

Those arrested include four IT engineers and a Marathi actor and ad-film maker. Rohan Ravindra Mankani and Sudhil Shantilal Bhatevara alias Jain were two of the eight people arrested. Mankani is the son of filmmaker Ravindra Mankani and a filmmaker himself.

The police recovered Rs 25 lakh from the two, as well as 11 cell phones, two vehicles, one two-wheeler, and data from dormant bank accounts totalling Rs 216.29 crore.

“These arrests are based on preliminary information and we are looking for who all are involved in it. We are investigating it further and we will get to the root of it,” said Bhagyashree Navatake, deputy commissioner of police, cybercrime and Economic offence wing (EOW) of Pune city police.

“We are investigating whether it is a case of hacking or someone from the organisation (banks) has leaked the data. Banks these days also outsource the maintenance of their systems to major IT companies; it could have been leaked by their employees too,” said an official of the cybercrime cell.

At the Cyber police station, a case was filed under Indian Penal Code Sections 419, 420 (cheating), 120(b) (criminal conspiracy), and 34 (common intention), as well as Information Technology Act Sections 43/66 and 66(d).

According to cyber-crime cell assistant commissioner of police Shivaji Pawar, eight people were arrested on Tuesday and remanded in police custody until March 20. Besides the accused, a few more people have been detained for questioning, including some from Mumbai.

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