Shamli couple held in Rs 1.7 crore cyber fraud case

Shamli: A couple, in their 40s, was arrested on Thursday by Shamli's cyber crime police and cyber cell unit in connection with a cyber fraud racket that allegedly siphoned off Rs 1.7 crore from 41 people across multiple states through a fake Telegram investment account.The accused — Himank Prashant Kanv and his wife, Surabhi Bhargav — allegedly posed as advertising and casting professionals and colluded with absconding associates to open a current account at a bank branch in Shamli. Kanv is a resident of Mumbai while Bhargav is from Shamli.Police said the account was used as a 'mule' to route and launder money cheated from victims in Bihar, Delhi, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and Telangana.During questioning, Kanv told police that his involvement began while arranging funds for a film project. He said he was introduced to a short filmmaker who connected him with Harshit alias Ritik in Delhi. Police said Harshit allegedly arranged the opening of the bank account and controlled its operations to route the fraud proceeds.Shamli SP Narendra Pratap Singh said 41 complaints linked to the account were registered on the Union home ministry's National Cybercrime Reporting Portal. Of the total amount cheated, around Rs 98.4 lakh had already been withdrawn. "Investigations showed that the fraudsters created a Telegram channel and launched a bogus investment portal, luring people to deposit money, which was then transferred to the Shamli account and withdrawn," the SP said.An FIR was registered against the couple under BNS sections 318(4) (cheating), 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) and Section 66D of the Information Technology Act. Police said searches are on for the other absconding accused.