DWARKA PRASAD PATNAIK, OP
Chhatrapur: Ganjam district cyber police have busted a racket allegedly involved in cheating people through online betting apps and have arrested three persons, officials said Sunday.
The accused were identified as Shatrughna Kumar Pandey of Jharkhand, Dharmadas Manikpuri of Chhattisgarh and Jagadish Sethi alias Suraj of Chhatrapur.
They were produced in the Chhatrapur court Sunday and sent to judicial custody after their bail pleas were rejected.
Police seized two laptops, a Chromebook, 78 ATM and other cards, 16 bank passbooks, 14 smartphones, 86 SIM cards, a motorcycle and several documents from their possession.
User IDs, passwords and records related to deposits and withdrawals linked to online gaming and betting platforms, including Reddy Play 11, Hesh 777, 100 Panel and Fairplay, were also seized.
This was stated by Ganjam Superintendent of Police Harisha BC at a press conference held at his office in Chhatrapur Sunday.
The SP said that the accused allegedly lured people with promises of high returns through online betting apps and induced them to deposit money.
They allegedly used multiple ATM cards and SIM cards to carry out the fraud.
According to police, some youths from outside Odisha had been staying in a rented house at Gajapatinagar under the Rambha police station area for several months.
They were allegedly promoting and operating online betting apps from the premises.
Local residents became suspicious of their activities and informed police. Inspector Priyanka Behera filed a complaint on her own initiative September 19, based on which a case (20/26) was registered in this connection.
A cyber police team raided the rented premises Saturday night and arrested three persons. Two others reportedly fled under cover of darkness during the raid.
Police are conducting forensic examination of the seized digital devices.
Further investigation is underway to identify others involved in the network, determine the volume of financial transactions and establish the full extent of the alleged fraud.
The arrested accused will be taken on remand in the coming days for further questioning, the SP said.
Chhatrapur SDPO Chandan Ghadai, Cyber Police Station IIC Jyoti Ranjan Behera and other police officers were present at the press conference.
