Pimpri-Chinchwad: The Cyber Police Station of Pimpri-Chinchwad Police Commissionerate (PCPC) has arrested three men who were preparing to start a cyber fraud call centre in Navi Mumbai. The accused had earlier worked in similar scam operations in Bangkok and Myanmar. Police said the gang was planning to target people with fake investment schemes, officials announced on Saturday.

The accused have been identified as Sushil Bhagwan Juwatkar (42), Pankaj Raj Kapoor (38), and Nishchal Tankbir Bareilly (27), all currently based in Navi Mumbai. The operation was carried out by the cyber police under the guidance of senior officers, including Pimpri-Chinchwad Commissioner of Police Vinoy Kumar Choubey.

According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Dr Shivaji Pawar, the case came to light after a local businessman was cheated of Rs 2.09 crore. The fraudsters lured him with promises of high returns through IPOs and stock market investments. During the probe, police tracked a transaction of Rs 1.25 lakh to a bank account, which became a key lead in the case.

Further investigation led police to Sushil Juwatkar in Navi Mumbai. His associates, Pankaj Kapoor and Nishchal Bareilly, were also detained. Police found that Pankaj and Nishchal had experience working in cyber fraud call centres abroad. Acting on Juwatkar’s instructions, they were planning to set up a similar illegal operation locally.

During the raid, police seized several items used in cyber fraud activities. These included six mobile phones, three passports, two laptops, hard discs, POS machines, QR code scanners, debit cards, and multiple bank account kits and rubber stamps. Officials said these materials were intended to run a fake call centre and carry out financial fraud.

Police have also managed to freeze ₹62 lakh from the defrauded amount, providing partial relief to the victim. Efforts are ongoing to trace the remaining money and identify more links in the network.

Senior officers said the timely action helped prevent a large-scale cyber fraud operation from starting in the region. The investigation is still underway, and police are looking into possible connections with other cybercrime networks.

Washington, April 4: A US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down over Iran, triggering a combat search-and-rescue operation, with one crew member rescued and another still missing.

Both crew members ejected from the aircraft. One has been found alive, while efforts continue to locate the second, whose status remains unclear. The F-15E is a two-seat multirole fighter with a pilot and a weapons systems officer.

In a separate incident the same day, a US Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft was also lost in the region. Its pilot was rescued safely, people familiar with the situation were quoted by local media outlets.

Initial US indications suggest both aircraft were hit by Iranian fire. Iran claimed it had downed an American fighter and circulated images purportedly showing wreckage of an F-15E, though the authenticity of those images could not be independently verified.

US Central Command and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Videos on social media, reportedly from southwestern Iran, showed US aircraft flying low, possibly conducting combat search-and-rescue (CSAR) missions.

The US Air Force has CSAR teams in the region equipped with HC-130J Combat King II aircraft and HH-60 helicopters. At least one rescue helicopter involved in the operation was hit by Iranian fire but managed to land, according to people familiar with the matter.

The incidents mark the first known combat loss of US crewed aircraft in the current conflict. Earlier, a US Air Force F-35 pilot had “suffered shrapnel wounds” after damage to the aircraft during a mission over Iran on March 19, but the jet was able to make an emergency landing.

Three F-15Es were also “shot down by friendly fire” over Kuwait on March 2, with all six crew members ejecting safely. Separately, a KC-135 tanker “crashed in western Iraq after an apparent midair collision,” killing six airmen.

Iranian state media said the downing of the aircraft would mark the first time Tehran had shot down an American fighter jet since the conflict began weeks ago. Reports also indicated Iranian forces were searching for the missing US service member in the area where the jet went down.

US officials have said American forces continue to operate with air superiority over large parts of Iran and have struck more than 12,300 targets.

Tehran, April 4: Iran has rejected a US proposal for a 48-hour ceasefire, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Friday.

The proposal was delivered to Iran through a “friendly” country on Thursday, Fars quoted an informed source as saying.

Washington has stepped up its diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire, particularly after an Iranian strike targeted a US “military forces depot” on Kuwait’s Bubiyan Island, Xinhua news agency reported quoting sources.

According to Fars, assessments suggest that the proposal was put forward following an intensification of the crisis in the region and “serious problems” for US forces resulting from their country’s “miscalculation” of Iran’s military capabilities.

The report added that Iran’s response to the offer was not given in writing, but through the continuation of attacks in the battlefield.

Meanwhile, the Iranian army confirmed that its air defence systems shot down a US A-10 “Warthog” attack plane over Iran’s southern waters near the Strait of Hormuz, with the aircraft crashing into the Persian Gulf.

The announcement came shortly after IRGC said that it had downed a US F-35 fighter jet in central Iranian airspace earlier in the day. Later Friday, Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency reported that a US Black Hawk helicopter was also hit by a projectile in Iranian airspace while searching for the pilot of the downed US fighter jet.

Yadollah Rahmani, governor of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, called on residents in tribal and rural areas to assist authorities in locating “enemy pilots.”

On February 28, Israel and the United States launched joint attacks on Tehran and several other Iranian cities, killing Iran’s then Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, along with senior military commanders and civilians. Iran responded by launching waves of missile and drone strikes targeting Israel and US assets in the Middle East.