New Delhi, June 17: The Delhi Police on Tuesday claimed to have cracked a sensitive cyber fraud case, involving two government officials, and made a recovery of over Rs 24 lakh, illegally transferred to a third person, by one of them.

A Kolkata-based individual named Sanjay Chakraborty and Prakash Singh, a government employee posted in the President’s Estate, have been arrested for committing UPI fraud and duping another government servant of Rs 24.40 lakh.

The Cyber police station of New Delhi began a probe into the case, after Surender Kumar, a 59-year-old government employee, working as Chief Household Assistant in Household Section, lodged a complaint about theft of Rs 24.40 lakh from his and his wife’s PNB accounts without their knowledge. He complained that the money was withdrawn from their accounts via illegal UPI transactions, though neither he nor his wife used any UPI app, including PhonePe, GooglePay or PayTm.

The cyber cell of Delhi Police launched investigation into the financial trail and found that Rs 16.05 lakh from the account of the complainant’s wife was transferred to a Bank of Baroda account of Sanjay Chakraborty, a Kolkata resident while an additional Rs 4 lakh from complainants’ account was routed to another Bank of Baroda account, operated by the same individual.

When the police team apprehended Sanjay Chakraborty from West Bengal and grilled him over his involvement, he broke down and confessed to the crime. He admitted that he was receiving fraudulent money on behalf of his associate Prakash Singh, in exchange for a 2-3 per cent commission.

Following this, the police arrested him from Kolkata as well as 27-year-old government employee Prakash Singh, from Delhi.

The key accused, when questioned by police, also narrated his modus operandi. He said he had regular access to the victim’s mobile phone.

As the elderly colleague was unfamiliar with smartphone applications, he used to install PhonePe on the victim’s phone and fraudulently transfer money (Rs 1 lakh every time on every 3-4 days over the period of 3 months) without their knowledge. He would also delete transaction SMS messages and uninstall the app before returning the phone.

To mask his involvement, he used accounts of his friends, including Sanjay Chakraborty and others, who would retain a small commission and then send the remaining amount to his bank account.

The victim had purchased two Apple mobile phones, one motorcycle, one laptop, household things with fraudulent money and also spent it on travelling, informed the police.

Indore, June 17: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Madhya Pradesh Police on Tuesday launched raids at multiple locations linked to a senior official of the Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC), following allegations of amassing disproportionate assets.

Acting on a complaint, an EOW team from the Indore division arrived at the IMC’s Horticulture Department and conducted a thorough search of Assistant Superintendent Chetan Patil’s office. The search operation lasted for over an hour, after which the office was sealed.

Simultaneously, another EOW team, accompanied by police personnel, reached Patil’s residence in the city’s upscale Gulmohar area and began a detailed search operation. The raid at his residence was still ongoing at the time of filing this report.

According to official sources, the action was initiated following credible inputs that Patil had amassed wealth exceeding his known sources of income. Preliminary findings suggest he had acquired multiple properties in his and his family members’ names, not only in Indore but also in other districts of Madhya Pradesh.

Sources familiar with the investigation told media that Patil, who has been serving in the Horticulture Department of IMC for several years, had faced internal allegations in the past involving financial irregularities, including suspected siphoning of public funds.

During the raids, EOW officials seized several incriminating documents, including property papers, bank account details, and digital devices such as laptops. Jewellery, a significant amount of cash, and other valuables were also recovered. An evaluation of the seized assets, bank lockers, and financial records is currently underway.

This is the second such action against an IMC official in recent months. In March, the EOW had raided properties linked to Rajesh Parmar, a suspended Assistant Revenue Officer of the corporation, in connection with similar charges of disproportionate assets.

Bhubaneswar, June 14: An official of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) in Odisha was arrested by the CBI for taking a bribe of Rs 10,000 from a chartered accountant for approving applications about two companies, an official said on Saturday.

Anil Rath, Senior Social Security Assistant (SSSA), EPFO Regional Office, Berhampur, District Ganjam, was allegedly harassing the complainant by delaying the approval, the official said.

A case was registered by the CBI on June 12 against Rath on the basis of a complaint filed by Suraj Kumar Dash.

He was booked for the offence of demanding undue advantage/bribe by a public servant under the Prevention of Corruption Act and criminal conspiracy under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Rath allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 10,000 from the complainant to approve the Authorised Signatory Application of two employers — Jai Jagannath Infratech and Uttam Padhi, on the EPFO Portal.

Dash said the application was repeatedly rejected by Rath between March and May on the grounds of incomplete documentation.

“I visited the EPFO (Regional Office, Berhampur) again on June 11 to find out the reason why the application is under process. Where PRO Anil Rath demanded Rs 10,000 (for two employers at the rate of Rs 5,000 per company) to approve the Authorised Signatory Application,” said Dash in his complaint.

After negotiation, the accused agreed to accept a bribe of Rs 10,000 from the complainant, the CBI said.

On receiving a complaint from Dash, CBI, ACB, Bhubaneswar verified it on June 12.

The verification report which confirmed the demand of bribe said, “The complaint and its subsequent verification report, prima facie, disclose commission of cognizable offence punishable under section 61(2) of Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita read with section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018), on the part of Anil Rath.”

The report also raised suspicion about the involvement of other officials in the alleged demand of a bribe.

“During verification of the complaint, Anil Rath is talking about some other officer of EPFO by addressing him as ‘Sir’. As the identity of that person has not been established during the verification, hence, his role will be looked into during the investigation,” said the report.