New Delhi, October 30
The Nagpur Police arrested four people for duping social media users by posing as Nagpur police commissioner Dr Ravinder Singhal.
A complaint was registered by one Mohammad Yaseer Bashir with the Sadar Police Station, Nagpur. Bashir received a message on Facebook Messenger from a profile bearing the username “Dr Ravindra Singhal IPS,” where the scammers claimed that CISF personnel wanted to sell furniture at a subsidised rate. They then convinced Bashir to transfer funds across several bank accounts, resulting in the loss of Rs 85,000.
In a press conference held at the Nagpur Commissioner Dr Ravinder Singhal revealed that the suspects were apprehended in Khurd, Rajasthan. The juvenile was initially detained and subsequently led police to three other accused namely, Rukamuddin Khan Shaffi Khan, Shakir Khan Qasam Khan, and Innis Khan Nijardin Khan. The police then arrested a fifth accused, Salim Khan Wald Resham Khan (24), from Alwar.
The officer stated that Shakir and Innis were involved in creating fake social media handles of various IPS and IRS officers. The different mobile numbers used to create the profiles were obtained from Assam and West Bengal. The juvenile revealed that he used to earn Rs 2,000 for creating one account. Salim had hacked into a lost phone and transferred Rs 25,800 from the complainant’s HDFC bank account. Three phones and a laptop were seized from his possession.
The officials added that details of 1,658 bank accounts and 36 bank statements were obtained from the accused’s laptop, as well transactions worth more than Rs 5 crore were detected in his account.
