A man, who used to targeted businessmen in Delhi’s Chandni Chowk and tricked them, through WhatsApp calls, into transferring huge amounts of money, has been arrested, a Delhi Police official said on Tuesday, adding that a manhunt has been initiated to nab the two other accused, who are still at large.
The accused was identified as Suresh Purohit, 29, a resident of Rajasthan and he was previously arrested in Pune in a cheating case of the same modus operandi.
According to police, on November 2, a case was registered at Lahori Gate police station on the complaint of Pradeep Jain, 62, regarding cheating of Rs 1 crore by impersonating his known associate through WhatsApp call.
A police team was handed over the task to identify accused persons and arrest them.
“A detailed technical analysis of Call Detail Records was carried out continuously. The police team then mounted continuous surveillance on suspect mobile numbers. Further, it was found that the SIM numbers were issued on the basis of fake ID from the Airtel office at Gurugram,” Deputy Commissioner of Police, North, Manoj Kumar Meena said.
After investigation conducted from the Airtel office, it was revealed that the alleged SIM numbers had been issued by employee ID of Krishna Operator and the SIM numbers had been received by a person possessing a black coloured Scorpio car.
“On the basis of further investigation as well as on the basis of secret information, the accused person’s details were found. The alleged person was himself present in Shimla, but his location data was being shown as of Rajasthan,” said the DCP.
Thereafter, a police team was sent to Shimla, manual intelligence was gathered and in combination with technical investigation, Purohit, on the way to Shimla, was apprehended at Dharampur in the hilll state’s Solan.
On interrogation, Purohit disclosed that he along with his other associates namely Dasrath of Jalour, Rajasthan and Hemant Jain of Delhi had committed cheating of Rs1 crore from the complainant/victim by making a fraud call with mobile number for the purpose/duping him to pay payment to a known person.
“Further, he disclosed that an amount of Rs 40 lakhs came in his part after distribution of total cheated money and the rest of Rs 60 lakhs is with another associate. The accused person with the association of his co-accused persons used to target gullible people and cheat money from them after making fraud calls in order to live a lavish life,” the DCP added.
20231114162010
