NT Reporter | Panaji
Goa cyber crime police, probing the biggest online fraud in Goa involving an amount of Rs 4.74 crore, have arrested second accused Suraj Eknath Savat in connection with the case. Savat is a native of Kolhapur, Maharashtra.
Police said a retired employee from Tiswadi, aged 72, lost the money to a fake IPO (Initial Public Offering). Police earlier arrested Avishkar Suradkar, a taxi driver from Maharashtra, while Malathi B N from Bengaluru was summoned.
Police said that following an in-depth technical and financial investigation, the suspect Savat was traced to Kolhapur from where he was arrested.
According to police, the accused had taken the bank credentials and received Rs 80 lakh in his associate’s bank account at Layer 1. This was subsequently routed to multiple accounts of his associates, police said.
They said that further analysis uncovered that the account was linked to eight other cyber fraud cases across Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Gujarat and Goa with a cumulative fraud amount of Rs 13.1 crore.
Earlier, the police had arrested Suradkar in connection with the case and he is currently out on conditional bail.
Police said that one more suspect, Malathi B N, was identified as another accused. She had received Rs 30 lakh in her bank account at Layer 1 and routed the fund to other accounts. She has been served notice under Sections 35(3), 35(4), 35(5), and 35(6) of the BNSS Act and directed to cooperate with the investigation, said police.
It may be noted that the complainant had come across information pertaining to the ‘IPO’ of an online payment app on a social media platform. The complainant had told the police that the accused impersonated as Qualified Institutional Buyer (QIB) linked to the online payment app.
The accused induced the complainant to invest in the ‘IPO’, wherein a large number of shares were reportedly allotted to the complainant. The incident occurred prior to August 25, this year, the complainant told the police.
As directed by the scamsters, the complainant invested money. However, the accused cheated the complainant to the tune of Rs 4.74 crore on the pretext of providing high returns, the complainant told the police.
