In the two months since textile baron SP Oswal lost Rs 7 crore to scammers posing as CBI sleuths, the Ludhiana police have identified the “mastermind”, arrested 15 suspects, recovered Rs 4 crore, and claimed to have uncovered a network of scammers spread across Assam, West Bengal, and the Delhi-NCR.
A top police source in Ludhiana, who is involved in the investigation, told Newslaundry that the banking side of the scam was in Assam while the calling operations were from Delhi-NCR.
Oswal, the 82-year-old chairman and managing director of the Vardhman Group, was targeted in August in an elaborate scam that involved scammers “impersonating” Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud during a “fake Supreme Court hearing via Skype”. He told the media that it had started with a phone call, purportedly from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, followed by a second call where a man posing as a CBI official told him he was “suspected in a money laundering case”.
The police probe is now looking into the role played by bank officials in Assam, and if they had aided the alleged mastermind.
Media reports noted that the police identified one Rumi Kalita, 35, as the “mastermind” who purportedly orchestrated the banking side of the scam from Assam. Kalita is a resident of Changchari in Guwahati’s Kamrup.
However, sources within the Punjab police told Newslaundry they haven’t established whether Kalita is the “mastermind” or “linked to the main criminals”, though they confirmed she “met them and knew them”. Kalita had escaped before a police raid at her Guwahati home in September, police sources said.
Money trail and bank officials under scanner
Suspects Atanu Choudhury and Anand Choudhury were among the first arrests on September 29. Both are residents of Guwahati; Atanu runs a logistics business while Anand works in a pharmacy.
After arresting Atanu and Anand, police seized Rs 9 crore from Atanu’s SBI account, which included Rs 4 crore from Oswal. The account was maintained at SBI’s GS Road branch in Guwahati. It was registered under the name “FWAL” but operated by Atanu, the police said.
The Ludhiana police source told Newslaundry that Atanu had been “facing a financial crisis” when Anand “introduced” him to the scam, promising him “substantial money” for opening a bank account.
The source claimed that the initial deal offered Atanu a “5-10 percent commission on every fraudulent transaction, but it was later increased to 30 percent, with the agreement that the income tax deductions would also be covered”.
The source also said the money seized from Atanu’s SBI account was linked to a web of similar frauds executed in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Mumbai.
Ludhiana police cybercrime SHO Jatinder Singh told Newslaundry that police in Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad have lodged cybercrime reports against Atanu’s account. “Money earned from these cyber frauds has been found to be deposited in his account. We are investigating this aspect.”
A police official privy to the investigation told Newslaundry that Atanu’s bank account had been frozen a day before in connection with “another scam”. When that happened, he purportedly called Kalita for help. She “assured Atanu and Anand “not to worry as it happens quite often and the money would be released soon,” the source said.
“The same evening they withdrew around Rs 1 crore from that account. Kalita also knows things like how to transfer money into different accounts to syphon off the funds from banking channels,” the source claimed. Newslaundry could not verify these details.
Apart from Atanu’s SBI account, Oswal also transferred Rs 3 crore to a bank account in SBI’s Santoshpur branch in West Bengal’s Malda district. He was told it was a “secret surveillance account”. The police found that the account belonged to one RVPL.
Oswal got suspicious only when the fraudsters shared the details of a third account in ICICI Bank, which the police said belongs to one Chouhan Enterprises.
Interstate modus operandi
The police have identified a total of 15 suspects, but all names have not been disclosed.
Besides Atanu and Anand, the suspects include three other individuals from Assam: Atanu’s sister-in-law Nimmi Bhattacharya and two others named Sanjay Sutradhar and Rintu, who are from Tezpur district. The police claimed Rintu, a resident of Nalbari in Tezpur, had purportedly approached Anand because Rintu was “looking for someone willing to open an account to facilitate the fraudulent transactions”.
Two other suspects are also from West Bengal’s Malda: Alok Rangia and Ghulam Murtaza, both of whom have been implicated in cases of fraud earlier.
The police are allegedly uncertain about Nimmi’s involvement, as no concrete evidence has been found against her apart from her phone number and other details being used by the accused.
The police official privy to the investigation told Newslaundry, “We are still investigating the case to reach the other main culprits. It is likely that they operated from Delhi-NCR. Our investigation into the West Bengal aspect of the case is also going on. Meanwhile, it has been found that only the banking aspect of the fraud took place in Assam.”
Another senior official told Newslaundry: “These fraudsters often look for potential individuals to use them to open accounts. But Atanu and Anand participated in it fully knowing that money from the scam would come to their account. They are equally involved in the crime.”
Update on October 24: This report has been amended to remove an allegation about Kalita's association with a bank.
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