New Delhi: Delhi Police‘s crime branch has busted a major cybercrime module allegedly involved in nationwide investment scams worth more than Rs 6.5 crore. Three men, who posed as SEBI-registered stockbrokers and lured victims with promises of pre-IPO shares and off-market trades, have been arrested. DCP Aditya Gautam said the syndicate had opened a mule account in the name of an apparel firm to funnel illicit gains. “The syndicate is connected to 165 cybercrime complaints across the country,” he said. The breakthrough came during the probe into a case where a complainant was duped of nearly Rs 50 lakh. Investigators found that victims were lured into investing in fictitious secondary market stocks via manipulated web applications and forged documents. A financial trail revealed that the stolen funds were first routed through five beneficiary accounts — including that of M/s Shriji Apparels — before being rapidly layered through multiple transfers and cash withdrawals to obscure their origin. The accused have been identified as Pravash Chandra Panda (43), Pritam Roshan Panda (27) and Sritam Roshan Panda (24), all residents of Odisha. Police said they played a key role in operating the mule account of M/s Shriji Apparels, which served as a primary channel for receiving and laundering the defrauded money.“The accused operated high-volume mule accounts for major cyber syndicates. During raids in Ganjam and Bhubaneswar, the police recovered a large cache of incriminatory material, including 17 mobile phones, 124 ATM/debit cards, 56 bank passbooks and 25 cheque books, confirming the coordinated nature of the fraud,” DCP Gautam added. The network consists of multi-tiered elements, including front-end fraud operators, layer-I business accounts and layer-II mule accounts managed by individuals like the accused.
