Rs 1500 cr cyber fraud racket: Telangana man among 3 held in Gujarat's Rajkot

Rajkot, Feb 26 (PTI) Three persons were arrested in Gujarat's Rajkot district for their alleged involvement in a Rs 1500 crore cyber fraud racket, taking the total number of those held in the case to nine, a police official said on Thursday.

Telangana resident Adiluddin Mohammed, who was involved in transferring money into mule accounts and receiving the money back through 'angadia' (traditional courier) channels, was arrested on Wednesday, Rajkot (Rural) Superintendent of Police Vijay Gurjar said.

He identified the other two arrested persons as Mihir Rangani and Hiren Limbasiya from Rajkot, who were responsible for providing bank accounts, withdrawing money, and transferring funds.

Six persons were arrested in the case on February 13, he said.

The case involves opening 15 accounts in various private banks that were strategically operated through marketing yard (Agricultural Produce Market Committee) firms, police said.

"The reason for using APMC accounts was that GST and TDS compliance requirements were not applicable in the same way, making them convenient for misuse. These accounts channelled three distinct categories of funds, namely proceeds from cyber fraud, gaming-related transactions, and money linked to GST activities," the SP explained.

The probe so far has found transactions of approximately Rs 1500 crore related to these accounts, he added.

A total of 180 complaints have been registered on Cyber Crime Portal-1930, including 21 from Gujarat involving ₹2.94 crore and 159 from other states involving ₹20.21 crore, police said. PTI KVM BNM