Mumbai police arrests six Covid-19 fraudsters from Bihar

Dhananjay Kumar, Dharmajay Kumar, Shrawan Paswan, Nitish Kumar

Mumbai police arrested six people, including a minor, from Bihar for allegedly cheating scores of citizens from across the country with the promise of providing them with oxygen, remdesivir, beds in hospitals and Covid-related services at the peak of the second wave.

The cyber cell of the Crime Branch traced the six to Bihar Sharif in Nalanda district and a team picked them last week from an area they said was full of Maoist guerrillas.

The police said the gang kept a tab on frantic requests being made on social media and accordingly gave advertisements as suppliers of materials ranging from oxygen concentrators to life-saving drugs.

Whenever anyone contacted them, they would demand between Rs 10,000 and Rs 20,000 as initial payment and would go incommunicado after receiving the money. The Crime Branch launched an investigation after a Mumbai resident filed a complaint saying he had lost Rs 15,000 in a similar fashion.

The police said the gang was earlier into cheating people with the promise of loans. After the pandemic hit their source of income, they started targeting desperate kin and friends of Covid patients.

"They were running a call centre where each one had a clearly defined role. They have cheated at least 210 people and collected about Rs 60 lakh. But we think this is just a tip of the iceberg as it was a pan-India scam," said Milind Bharambe, joint commissioner of police, crime.

The gang was also planing to con people during the potential third wave that is expected to be harsh on children, said sources.

Cyber police officers said it was a challenging mission. The gang had used more than 100 SIM cards and frequently changed their location. They also kept checking the local police to find out if cops from some other places had visited Bihar Sharif.

"The belt is Maoist-affected and we reached there late in the night. The moment they learnt about our arrival, the gang members tried to flee with some even climbing to rooftops. They even tried to destroy the SIM cards, but we managed to arrest six of them," said an officer from the cyber police.

The police have appealed to the public not to share inaccurate information as they often lead to scams. Bharambe added, "Even celebrities sometimes share unverified details related to Covid19 which is also contributing to such scams."

The arrested persons have been identified as Dharmajay Kumar, Dhananjay Kumar, Nitish Kumar, Shrawan Paswan and Suman Kumar.