8 cyber criminals nabbed for Rs 4 lakh fraud
The Statesman | 13 September 2025Explaining the modus operandi of the racket, the police said the racketeers used to call vulnerable persons through WhatsApp and directed them to update their KYC papers linked to their bank accounts. They threatened that unless this was done, the accounts would become inoperative. They then withdrew amounts from the bank accounts.
Retired LIC employee Mrinal Kanti Tiwari, a resident of Anandapur Co-Operative Housing Society in Durgapur town, was duped of a total of Rs 4 lakh. He received a call on 28 June which he thought was from his bank, asking him to provide his KYC details. Two days later, he found that Rs 4 lakh had been withdrawn from his account. When he cross-checked with his bank, he was advised to lodge a complaint.
The police started investigations by tracing the caller’s numbers and found that the notorious Jamtara gang was behind the racket. The names of Khagen Das, the mastermind of the scam, and Mithun Dan surfaced. They traced them down in Durgapur itself and seized costly cell phones worth Rs 2.5 lakh and gold worth Rs 55,000. The members had purchased these items with the Rs 4 lakh they had siphoned off Tiwari’s account, the police said. Police are now trying to retrieve the remaining amount.
ADPC’s DCP (East), Abhisekh Gupta, said that a total of eight members have been arrested and forwarded to Durgapur Court. “We have sought police custody for carrying out further investigations,” he said.
The former LIC employee has thanked the police for tracing and arresting the culprits.
ADPC sources said that the mastermind Khagen Das is one of the most-wanted cyber crime offenders in the country and is wanted by the police in several states.
