The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has conducted searches at 10 locations across four States and arrested a person allegedly involved in a cyber-enabled organised investment fraud case.
The searches were carried out in Delhi, Hisar in Haryana, Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, and Mumbai, Pune, and Nashik in Maharashtra. The accused named Pratik Tanpure was arrested in Mumbai.
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“The accused was actively involved in supplying pre-activated SIM cards and mule bank accounts to cybercriminal networks, thereby enabling and sustaining their illegal operations. Substantial incriminating material was recovered from his possession during the searches,” the agency said.
The case is related to a well-orchestrated “fraud” where unsuspecting individuals were cheated through a fraudulent mobile application and WhatsApp groups. “The perpetrators deceitfully lured innocent investors by promising shares of reputed listed companies at discounted rates. Once the victims invested their hard-earned money, the accused misappropriated the funds, causing significant financial loss to the public,” it said.
Last month, the agency had arrested 11 alleged cybercriminals. In one case, in which six people were arrested on the charge of cheating Japanese citizens, 19 locations in Delhi, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh were searched. The accused were identified as Ashu Singh (Delhi); Kapil Ghakhar (Panipat, Haryana); Rohit Maurya from Ayodhya, and Shubham Jaiswal, Vivek Raj, and Adarsh Kumar from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.
“As part of its ongoing efforts to combat cyber-enabled financial crimes under Operation Chakra-V, the CBI on May 28 conducted coordinated searches…the operation culminated in the arrest of six key operatives and the dismantling of two illegal call centres engaged in a sophisticated transnational tech support scam targeting Japanese citizens,” the CBI had said.
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In the second case, during the searches conducted at 42 locations across eight States — Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu — as part of the ongoing Operation Chakra-V, the CBI had arrested five persons for allegedly selling SIM cards without authorisation. The SIM cards were being used for illegal activities such as “digital arrest” scam, impersonation, fraudulent advertisements, and investment/UPI frauds.
Published – June 13, 2025 10:54 pm IST