Theft at BJP MLA's house
The MLA, who resides at the ministerial housing complex at 3 Tilak Marg in the Dalibagh area, accused servant Rinku Pankalta, a native of Shravasti, as the prime suspect. Rinku is currently on the run.
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Indian Express
39 minutes ago
- Indian Express
‘Good cop, bad cop': How fake NCB officers duped 62-year-old woman of Rs 77 lakh
Last August, a 62-year-old woman was surfing an online drug store's website for her monthly prescription of sleeping pills. It was a routine for her to order medicines online every month for a neurological ailment. However, her latest search landed her in trouble, which ended in an alleged digital arrest fraud of Rs 77 lakh as two men — allegedly posing as officers of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) — played 'good cop, bad cop', said police. After she reported her ordeal to the police, it took investigators nine months to trace the accused who had transferred a major portion of the money in his bank account. His arrest led the police to four more accomplices, all of whom were arrested by July 1, said officers. A resident of Vasant Kunj and a former teacher, the woman told police she had received the first call from the alleged fraudsters last August. A man posing as an NCB officer triggered alarm by claiming that she had ordered 'banned drugs'. The woman who lives alone panicked. 'The caller told her that the drug she ordered was banned in India and that the NCB suspected she was helping the supply of these drugs in Delhi,' a senior police officer, privy to the investigation details, said. Transfer a certain amount of money to verify the bank account details or face an arrest warrant — Neeru felt helpless when the caller gave her these two options. Desperate to prove her innocence, Neeru had transferred a total of Rs 3 lakh in separate tranches to multiple accounts by September 10, 2024,. 'She then waited for the next call, hoping to be cleared of all charges,' a police officer said. After 10 days, she got another call. But this time it was the 'good cop'. 'The man on the call, who also posed as an NCB officer, told her that he knew that she was innocent. He told her to stay calm and let him work with the NCB to get her money back,' the officer explained. The 62-year-old received Rs 20,000 back into her account two days later — she was allegedly assured that this was the first of the many transactions. 'The 'good cop' had gained her trust,' the officer added. She got a video call on WhatsApp after two days. 'This time, four men were on call. She was asked to share her screen and open her bank account after which all her money would be returned. As she trusted the man who had posed as the 'good cop', she followed the instructions,' the officer explained. Trouble, however, deepened for the elderly woman as her netbanking credentials were allegedly stolen. The video call ended with the fraudsters allegedly telling the woman that they were satisfied with the probe. Soon after, her worst nightmare turned true. Multiple debit messages flashed on her mobile phone — transactions of Rs 5 lakh, Rs 10 lakh and so on… When she called up the man posing as the NCB officer, his phone was off. She finally sought help from a relative and registered a complaint at the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSCO) Unit of the Delhi Police's Special Cell on September 26, 2024. A team under ACP Manoj Kumar and Sub Inspector Karamvir started a probe into the money trail. 'The call detail records and IMEI details of beneficiary account holders were obtained from the technical service providers and banks concerned. During further investigation it was found that around Rs 48 lakh from the duped amount was further transferred to a particular account,' the officer explained. This account belonged to Akhilesh (23), a resident of Nuh in Haryana. The police raided his home and found that he had left for Delhi—on the pretext of preparing for judicial services examinations. Multiple locations popped up when police tried to trace him through his mobile location. Investigators finally reached a breakthrough in June when his location was traced in the hub of government exam aspirants — Mukherjee Nagar. 'On June 24, Akhilesh was traced living at a rented apartment in Indira Vikas Colony, Mukharjee Nagar. He tried to flee but he was overpowered. He was arrested and his disclosure statement was recorded wherein he stated that he received the cheated amount on the direction of his associates — Amjad, Saahid and Shakeel. He also trapped the victim to share her phone screen on video call and gained access to the victim's bank account to transfer funds to his own bank account,' the officer underlined. On June 27, a raid was conducted in Punhana, Haryana, and Amjad and Shahid were arrested as well. Amjad, the police said, was the man who pretended to be the 'good cop and the woman's well-wisher'. 'Amjad disclosed that he and his brother-in-law Shahid, along with his friend Shakeel, called the victim and threatened her of arrest. They also disclosed involvement of the other accused, Hamid, saying that he was the fourth fake NCB officer,' the police officer added. On July 1, the police raided Hamid's home in Rajasthan's Deeg. Shakeel was also at his home. However, the police said that Hamid's family and the villagers tried to shield the duo, giving Shakeel a chance to flee. But the police chased them down and arrested the duo. So far, the elderly woman has got just Rs 3 lakh from the duped amount. The police are now tracking a string of bank accounts used by the accused. Some of the confiscated phones, as per officers, also have evidence of sextortion from other victims and investigation is on.
Time of India
41 minutes ago
- Time of India
From users to dealers: Women drawn deeper into drug trade in Ernakulam
Kochi: Police and excise officers in Ernakulam are noting a concerning trend: An increase in the number of women apprehended in narcotic cases. Seven women have been arrested for drug offences so far this month alone. City police arrested three women with narcotics, while excise department and rural police arrested two women each. The arrests were made from apartments and hotel rooms in Kakkanad, Elamkulam, Pallimukku and Thykoodam. One woman was apprehended from a car in Kalamassery, while two others were caught with ganja in Perumbavoor. Number of men arrested for drug peddling also did not dip, as over 60 youths were arrested in major drug cases in the past two months in Ernakulam. Excise special squad inspector K P Pramod said what he observed was that in many cases, women were introduced to the drug by their friends, and it later led to addiction. "After using it for six or seven times, most become hooked on the drug. Then it is like they can't live without it. It is this addiction that derails the life of our youth. Unless the addict herself or himself decides to get out of it with conviction, it is very difficult to relinquish it once you are trapped," said Pramod. An excise officer said that one of the women they arrested was an Ernakulam native, and she was introduced to drugs by her ex-husband. "She married her boyfriend at a very young age. He was into drug abuse. After divorce, she turned into drug smuggling to make money. She started to procure drugs in large quantities from Bengaluru and then sell it here," the officer said. The officer added that she has an 11-year-old daughter, and she used to travel with the girl to avoid detection. "She had a strong customer base. She used to go to Bengaluru along with the girl after taking money in advance from her customers and then return with the substance. This largely avoided detection. It was the first time that she was caught red-handed," said an officer. In one of the cases reported last week, the arrested woman was found to be employed at a reputed company, drawing a monthly salary of over Rs 50,000. "She was introduced to drugs by her boyfriend and gradually became addicted," said a senior police officer. The woman and her friend were arrested with 30 LSD stamps from a hotel room where they were staying for a week, paying Rs 1,500 per day as rent. "They were selling drugs to support their addiction and to maintain an upscale lifestyle," the officer added. According to officers, many drug peddling rackets intentionally rope in women to avoid immediate detection by law enforcement agencies. Statistics indicate that drug trafficking is once again on the rise after a temporary decline caused by increased police surveillance in the wake of a series of violent crimes. "After the launch of Operation D-Hunt by state police, most peddlers initially went underground. Now, with improved intelligence gathering, we are locating youths holed up in apartments and hotel rooms with narcotics," a police officer said.
Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
Detention of Bangla-speaking migrants: Bhasha stir begins, Mamata to march in Birbhum today
As the Trinamool Congress on Sunday launched its Bhasha Andolan campaign over detention and deportation of Bangla-speaking migrants in several states of the country, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is scheduled to lead a protest march in Birbhum town on Monday. The march will commence from the Tourist Lodge intersection and conclude at the Jambooni bus stand, followed by the chief minister's speech. On Sunday, she reiterated her charge against the BJP of unleashing a regime of 'linguistic terror' on Bengalis in the country, claiming that members of a migrant family were beaten up by the police in Delhi. Banerjee shared a video on X of a child and his mother purportedly belonging to a migrant family from West Bengal's Malda district, who were allegedly beaten up by the police in the national capital. 'Atrocious!! Terrible!! See how Delhi police brutally beat up a kid and his mother, members of a migrant family from Malda's Chanchal. See how even a child is not spared from the cruelty of violence in the regime of linguistic terror unleashed by BJP in the country against the Bengalis! Where are they taking our country now?' she wrote. Banerjee had last Monday accused the BJP of unleashing 'linguistic terrorism' on Bengalis, asserting that the fight for identity and language will continue until BJP is defeated. Speaking at the TMC's annual Martyrs' Day rally, she had announced that from Sunday, a movement would start in West Bengal to protest against 'attacks on Bengalis, the Bengali language and linguistic terrorism'. Marches were organised in Bhawanipore and Sealdah in Kolkata and elsewhere in Chuchura, Bankura, Birbhum, Cooch Behar by TMC workers, who held placards highlighting 'harassment and persecution' of the migrant workers in Assam, Odisha, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan and Maharashtra by the police in those states. TMC MLA Asim Majumdar led the rally at Khadina More in Chuchura, where he asserted that the 'double-engine governments' in those BJP-ruled states were 'deliberately harassing' Bengali-speaking migrants despite producing documents like Aadhaar cards and Voter ID cards. 'As stated by our Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, we have started this 'language movement' from today, which will hit the streets every weekend till the middle of August in the run-up to Independence Day. We will not take the persecution of Bengalis lightly,' he asserted. TMC leader and North Bengal Development Minister Udayan Guha led another march at Dinhata in Cooch Behar, vowing to resist the 'attempt by the BJP to strike off names of legitimate voters from voter lists, and send Indian citizens from Bengal to detention camps for electoral gains'. Thousands of TMC activists took part in the rallies in Sealdah and Bhawanipore with placards displaying Bengali alphabets and slogans against 'torture on Bengali-speaking people by the BJP outside West Bengal'. The processions disrupted vehicular movement in parts of central and south Kolkata.
