ROURKELA: In a significant development, Rourkela police on Saturday arrested Devendra Pratap Mourya, a key member of the Cambodia-based international cyber crime racket from Uttar Pradesh.
Rourkela SP Nitesh Wadhwani said Mourya was arrested in connection with the cyber fraud case registered in Rourkela in December last year when a senior central government officer had lost Rs 67.70 lakh in an investment scam. The victim had fallen prey to a fake trading app INDIRA Securities claiming to be a genuine registered entity of SEBI.
The arrest was made following a look-out circular issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs. According to the JCCT Management Information System (JMIC) of the MHA, Mourya is linked to over 500 cyber crimes across India.
Teams of the MHA’s Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center (I4C) and cyber crime unit of Odisha Crime Branch are scheduled to join the investigation and also help in analysis of evidence and technical aspects. Police have got a seven-day remand of Mourya.
A total of 14 persons have been arrested in this connection from January to August this year, Wadhwani said. “The latest arrest has been made in coordination with the Bureau of Immigration (BI), Crime Branch Odisha and Uttar Pradesh police after the accused arrived in India,” he added.
The SP said the accused, a 35-year-old, is a graduate and had gone to Cambodia in 2022 in search for better opportunities but got associated with the racket running as a cyber crime corporation.
“Soon after joining the racket, the accused rose in the ranks to render multiple roles and before his recent return to India, he was leading a team of 40. The accused was also the prime recruitment agent targeting overseas job-seekers in India,” Wadhwani said.
DIG of Police (Western Range) Brijesh Kumar Rai said investigations revealed several cybercrime corporations operate from a large building complex in Cambodia where more than 2,000 people from Indian sub-continents are employed.
“Over 1,000 Indians have become victims to cyber fraud. The cyber crime corporations in Cambodia are mostly headed by Chinese nationals and engaged in stock market and dating apps frauds, crypto currency trading, human trafficking and cyber slavery posing threat to national security,” the SP said.
Rai said the Cambodian racket has set up robust network of agents in India to provide pre-activated SIM cards, mule bank accounts and lure overseas job-seekers with fake job offers in IT firms.
Meanwhile, around 10 mobile phones, eight pen drives, 14 credit/debit cards, currency notes of Nepal, the US and Cambodia, 14 passbooks and cheque books, passport, Aadhaar card, DL, PAN Card, one WiFi router and eight SIM cards including international ones, among other articles were seized from the accused. He was produced in court on the day and brought on seven-day remand for further investigation, the SP said.
Earlier in March, Cyber Crime police had arrested a couple from Hyderabad in this connection.