Cyber expert steals $48,300 during police raid

Ahmedabad: Tasked with assisting the local crime branch in an investigation into a call centre, a private cyber expert turned rogue and quietly transferred $48,300 (approx. Rs 41 lakh) in cryptocurrency into his account during a police raid.Devendra Patel was arrested and produced in court on Wednesday. The court sent Patel to eight days in police remand, said inspector D B Unadkat.After initially attempting to mislead investigators, he eventually confessed when confronted with irrefutable evidence, said the inspector. He, allegedly, confessed to have invested around Rs 30 lakh of the stolen money in the stock market, loaned about Rs 8 lakh to friends and spent Rs 2 lakh.LCB officials said that during a raid led by PSI M R Brahmbhatt of Zone 6 LCB team at a residence in Danilimda, Patel was roped in to examine the seized mobile phones and a laptop. He falsely reported that no call centre data was found, a claim that fell apart when forensic experts traced the unauthorized cryptocurrency transfer.Following the raid, Ayaz Sheikh, who allegedly ran the call centre from his house in Danilimda, told police that cryptocurrency had been transferred from his wallet to another account. Since the transfer was made when the raid was being conducted, a police complaint was registered."Patel, who has a master's degree in computer application, learnt that Sheikh held a substantial amount of money in his crypto wallet. In collusion with a friend, he used his cellphone to transfer the cryptocurrency from Sheikh's wallet to his own account and then to a third party's wallet during the raid," said Unadkat.Following a tip-off, the police arrested Devendra Patel from a spot near his residence. Two mobile phones seized from him linked him to the illicit transactions. A case of theft, fraud and breach of trust under the Information Technology Act has been filed against Patel with the Maninagar police. "We are trying to determine who his accomplices are, if he has committed similar crimes elsewhere and if he is wanted in other cases," said the inspector.