Delhi Police arrests 3 men for siphoning off Rs 7.2 lakh using stolen phone

New Delhi, Jun 19 (PTI) Delhi Police has arrested three men who allegedly stole a mobile phone from a commuter on a bus and transferred Rs 7.2 lakh from the victim's bank accounts using a fake UPI ID, officials said on Thursday.

Aman (25) and Karthikay (25), both residents of Mohan Garden, and Prince Yadav (20) from Nangloi used the stolen money to fund a trip to Dehradun, Haridwar and Kedarnath in Uttarakhand, they said.

According to police, the victim's mobile phone was stolen on May 24 when he was travelling on a bus near Delhi Gate.

A case was registered on May 29 at the Najafgarh police station after the victim found that Rs 7.2 lakh had been withdrawn from his three bank accounts.

“Technical investigation revealed that the transferred money was spent in different parts of Uttarakhand. A mobile number in the name of Shyam Kumar was used to make the UPI transactions,” DCP (Dwarka) Ankit Singh said in a statement.

When contacted, Kumar said he carried out the transaction at the behest of an acquaintance named Shashank, who was in Uttarakhand at the time, the statement said.

After further probe, police arrested Karthikay, who during interrogation revealed that his friend Aman requested for the transaction from Uttarakhand.

Based on his inputs, police arrested Aman and Prince Yadav, while three more suspects – Danny, Ritik and Sumit – are absconding and efforts are underway to arrest them, the DCP said.

During questioning, Aman and Prince told police that they, along with the three absconding accused, stole the mobile phone from the bus.

Since the phone was not locked, they accessed a digital copy of the victim's Aadhaar card and created a fake UPI ID and linked it to his bank accounts.

On May 25, Aman, Ritik, Sumit and Prince left Delhi and travelled across Uttarakhand before returning on June 1, the officer said. PTI BM ARI