123 Asansol: A 26-year-old woman from south Kolkata, a B Tech graduate, emerged as the kingpin in a nine-member gang of digital arrest scammers. They were arrested by Asansol Police from Kolkata, its northern fringes, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and Mumbai. The nine had put an Asansol-based ex-Doordarshan employee under digital arrest from Jan 10 to Jan 16 and looted over Rs 1 crore.
According to additional DCP Mir Sahidul Ali, Sukriti Choudhary, a resident of Haridevpur's C V Road, and Rashid Khan, a 38-year-old Bhatpara resident, were the key members of the gang operating from Kolkata. Sukriti, a BTech, is fluent in both English and Hindi. She also served as a crucial link for the gang entrenched in Kolkata, Delhi, and even foreign countries.
The Jan 18 complainant, Chanchal Kumar Bandyopadhyay, lodged an FIR saying he transferred Rs 1 crore to the fraudsters' account. After starting the probe, police traced the mesh of nearly 40 bank accounts where the stolen money was transferred and parked. The bank accounts were a giveaway for the fraudsters' cell numbers and addresses. These led to the arrest of five persons, including Sukriti and Rashid. The arrests started from Jan 22. Two among these five are residents of UP's Shahjahanpur. Police then found links of the arrested five to two persons in Delhi and one in Mumbai.