Bhubaneswar: The Cyber Crime and Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has arrested a youth from Bhopal for allegedly cheating a senior citizen of the City out of Rs 81,30,082 in an online investment scam, police said Saturday.
The accused was identified as 24-year-old Aakash Kaushik, a resident of Bhopal district. According to police, Aakash allegedly duped complainant Niranjan Boitai (61) by adding him to a fake stock market investment group on WhatsApp and promising high returns. Police said the victim was persuaded to install a fraudulent trading application and transfer money to multiple bank accounts.
The complainant reportedly transferred Rs 81,30,082 before the platform became inaccessible. During the investigation, police found that transactions worth around Rs 13 lakh were routed through a bank account linked to the accused at YES Bank. Officials also examined transaction records from ICICI Bank and Axis Bank.
On February 12, acting on a reliable tip-off, the investigating team conducted a raid at Aakash’s residence in Bhopal and arrested him. Police seized two mobile phones, identity documents and other digital evidence from the accused. Officials said the bank account used in the fraud is suspected to be linked to around 28 cybercrime cases across various states in India.
Aakash was produced before a court, and police sought further custody to identify other members of the alleged cyber fraud network and recover the defrauded amount.
