The police said three more members of the gang were still on the run. They said the accused were under the name ‘Rudra Traders’ and using fake Aadhaar and PAN cards to launder crores of rupees through shell companies and fraudulent bank accounts.
So far, a total of 33 cases reported across India on National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) have been found to be linked to this shell company, police said.
The arrested accused, Rahul Kumar Srivastava, had experience in running an Aadhar centre and a cyber cafe for three years after which he got acquainted with Aadhar Centre procedures and its loopholes, according to a police officer.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (outer-north) Nidhin Valsan said the matter came to the fore when a victim Pawan Kumar, 29, reported a financial fraud amounting to ₹30.50 lakh.
Drawn in by promises of high returns from stock market investments, Kumar was manipulated into transferring his money into an account set up by the accused, Valsan said.
The accused showed him fake profits, luring Kumar to invest more. He was persuaded into borrowing
₹20 lakh from a bank to keep his investment active. Kumar soon realised that he had been scammed.
Valsan said the case was reported through NCRP, prompting an immediate investigation.
“Our team traced the illicit money trail to Rudra Traders, where large sums were deposited into bank accounts linked to fake identities,” Valsan said.
He said with assistance from banking and cyber experts, their team identified and froze multiple accounts involved in the laundering activities.
The breakthrough came when the police nabbed Srivastava from Noida, he further said.
“Srivastava would pose as Sanjay by using fake Aadhaar and PAN cards to open the fraudulent accounts,” another police officer said.
During the raid, the police claimed to have recovered mobile phones, chequebooks, debit cards and SIM cards.
Srivastava, a native of Gorakhpur, had been living in Kanpur for 5-6 years.
