BHUBANESWAR: Police have arrested a Madhya Pradesh native for allegedly cheating a senior citizen of Rs 81.30 lakh. The Cyber Crime and Economic Offence police station officers apprehended accused Aakash Kaushik (24) from Bhopal recently and brought him to Odisha.
Police registered a case in this regard in December last year after receiving a complaint from Niranjan Boitai (61) of Nayapalli. As per the complainant, he was added to an unknown WhatsApp group where its members posed as investment experts.
They convinced Boitai to invest money on the promise of providing him higher returns. Investigation revealed he invested the money in different phases in November and December last year. However, he was not able to withdraw the money later.
Police said the bank account used to receive the swindled amount was involved in at least 28 other cyber crime cases in many places like New Delhi, Bengaluru, North East, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Bihar, Karnataka, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Kerala, Maharashtra and Telangana among others.
Police seized two mobile phones, an Aadhaar card and a PAN card from Kaushik. Further probe is underway to identify and nab the other members of the gang, said a police officer.