Kingpin nabbed in Rs 7-cr cyber fraud case

The Ludhiana police claimed to have made the first arrest in the online fraud case in which an interstate gang of swindlers had duped the owner of Vardhman Group of Rs 7 crore on the pretext of ‘digital arrest’ over eight months ago.

Identified as the kingpin of the gang, Atnu Chaudhary was arrested by a special police team, led by the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), from Assam on Saturday.

Commissioner of Police (CP) Swapan Sharma said police officials, supervised by DCP Rupinder Singh, ADCP Vaibhav Sehgal and ACP Murad Jasbir Singh Gill, had succeeded in nabbing the kingpin of the gang booked in the case registered at the cyber crime police station under the BNS and IT Act for allegedly duping SP Oswal of Rs 7 crore by threatening him to be under digital arrest of a CBI team.

Though the police had identified almost all suspects from Assam, West Bengal and Delhi and recovered Rs 5,25,00,600 already, no arrest was reported earlier. The police claimed that the recovery made so far was considered the highest in the country so far in any online fraud case.

ACP Gill, who led the team of police officials visiting Assam, said Atnu Chaudhary of Nibas Apartment, Guwahati, now a resident of another area in Guwahati, was arrested on the basis of investigation conducted under the supervision of senior officials.

The police also claimed to have tightened the noose around other eight suspects, who are still at large.

Six ATM cards and three mobiles were also seized from the possession of Chaudhary.

SP Oswal, chairman and MD of Vardhman Group, was duped of Rs 7 crore in the last week of September 2024.

Earlier, the cyber cell of Ludhiana had claimed to have solved the case within two days of receiving the information about the fraud and a major part of the duped amount was recovered during the probe. However, no arrest was made.

The police are likely to arrest all suspects now as the kingpin has been arrested.

Ludhiana