Haridwar: The Uttarakhand Police on Sunday claimed to have busted an online racket with the arrest of man, who allegedly duped several people of more than Rs 16 lakh in 15 days on the pretext of booking treatments at Patanjali Yogpeeth.
The accused was arrested from Bihar on the basis of a complaint lodged by Acharya Rajneesh alias Swami Bajrangi on behalf of Patanjali Yogpeeth at Bahadarabad police station in Haridwar district on August 2.
Investigations revealed that the accused had created a website using a London IP address to take the bookings.
Patanjali Yogpeeth also presented documents related to fraud of about Rs 2 lakh in three cases, after which an FIR was registered under provisions of the Indian Penal Code.
Superintendent of Police (City) Swatantra Kumar said at a press conference that cybercriminals got payments into their accounts by forging the Indian Financial System Code (IFSC) — an 11-digit alphanumeric code which helps to identify different bank branches for online fund transfers — so that those appeared to be of bank branches in Haridwar.
He said this would make the victims believe that the account belonged to Patanjali Yogpeeth. However, the accounts were later found to be with bank branches in Bengal, Bihar, Odisha and Tamil Nadu.
Kumar said a team was formed by Senior Superintendent of Police Ajay Singh that on August 10 nabbed two people from a fake call centre, set up to take bookings, from the Sohjana village in Bihar’s Nawada district.
An analysis of the pair’s mobile phones revealed that they used software to create ‘proxy locations’.
One of the arrested accused, being a minor, was handed over to his family members after legal proceedings. The other accused, Surendra Chaudhary, was produced in a Nawada court and brought to Haridwar on transit remand.
The police have obtained important evidence after interrogating Chaudhary and a search is underway to nab the other accused. Kumar said Chaudhary’s WhatsApp chats and other documents revealed that the accused had made illegal earnings of Rs 16.30 lakh in just 15 days. He also bought two new homes and two SUVs in the last two months, the officer said. —PTI
