Man arrested for defrauding Ballari firm of Rs 2.1 crore, Rs 1.5 crore recovered

BALLARI: In a major case, the Ballari cyber crime police have arrested a cyber fraudster from Madhya Pradesh who had cheated a private firm of Rs 2.11 crore. After a five-day hunt, the police managed to track down the accused and recovered Rs 1.5 crore from him.

Ajay Kumar Jaiswal, a native of Madhya Pradesh came to know that Hindusthan Calcined Metals Pvt Ltd had purchased coal from Agarwal Coal Corporation and owed Rs 2.11 crore. He then created a fake email ID in the name of Agarwal Coal and sent a mail to Hindusthan Calcined Metals stating that the bank account number had changed and to credit the funds into the account that he had mentioned. After Hindusthan Calcined Metals deposited the funds in the account, Jaiswal transferred the money into 18 different accounts and withdrew it.

Cash of Rs 1.21 crore recovered from the accused.

After the fraud was detected on September 3, Hindusthan Calcined Metals lodged a complaint with the cyber crime police. Ballari SP Shobha Rani set up a 6-member team under Deputy SP Santhosh which traced the KYC and fund transfer and found Jaiswal hiding in Siddhi district of Madhya Pradesh. With the help of the local police, Jaiswal was arrested and the police recovered Rs 1.21 crore from him and have frozen Rs 27.97 lakh in bank accounts.

Police Superintendent Shobha Rani briefing the media.

Police suspect that Jaiswal may be linked to a notorious fraudster in Delhi and have taken up further investigation. “This is the first such case where a fraud was committed through email. We have not established whether there was negligence while transferring the funds. We are investigating where the remaining money was spent and we are questioning the accused. In many cases of cyber crime, it is very difficult to make recovery of cash or finding the accused, and that is why this case is important. The accused had studied till Class 9 and we are investigating if he was involved in other cases”, said Police Superintendent Shobha Rani.