18 March,2022 09:27 AM IST | Bhopal | IANS
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Madhya Pradesh police claimed to have busted a gang allegedly involved in duping people on pretext of providing 'VIP' mobile numbers. The gang duped around 500 people from multiple states, including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh and have pocketed nearly Rs 3 crore in the last three years.
Three people were arrested while the hunt to nab couple more is still on, a senior police official in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur district told the media on Thursday. According to the police, the arrested accused have been identified as Shubham Rai (28), Ashok Tripathi (57) and Dilip Kukreja (44).
Police claimed to have seized documents linked to the bank accounts, seven digit cards, cheque books, Aadhaar cards, eight mobile phones and a two-wheelers from their possession. Police said that the alleged fraudsters used over 50 bank accounts.
The state police was in search of these fraudsters since February after a resident of Jabalpur, Harjinder Singh, filed a complaint with a local police station claiming that he received a text message on February 2, offering to provide a 'VIP' mobile number or a number with a customer's preferred digits.
Subsequently, Harvinder got a call from a person who claimed to be an agent a telecom company and offered to provide him a 'VIP' SIM card on payment of Rs 41,300. The caller also provided details of a bank account for making the payment.
As per the police, Harvinder transferred the money, but he did not received any SIM card in return as has been promised. He then lodged a complaint to the police. During the investigation, police found that the money was transferred to the bank account of Ashok Tirthani, one of the person involved in the scam.
The police first arrested Tirthani and during the interrogation he told that Dilip Kukreja, Shubham Rai and some other persons are involved in the case. Rai had been earlier arrested in a cheating case in Uttar Pradesh in 2017, police said.
"Three persons of the gang have been arrested for duping over 500 people in several states. Some more more members of the group are still on run and they will also be brought to the justice soon," a senior police officer said.
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