The Mohali police Sunday claimed to have solved 40 cases of ATM fraud and debit card thefts with the arrest of three members of an inter-state gang that was active in Punjab and Haryana. Police also recovered 33 stolen debit cards and two cars from their possession. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sandeep Garg said that acting on specific information, a check post was set up at Big Bazar Baltana and one of the gang members, identified as Nikhil Thakur, a resident of Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh (HP), was arrested. A Skoda Cruise car that the accused, who had currently been residing in Jaipuria society of Zirakpur, was seized. The SSP added that 23 stolen bank debits cards were recovered from the car. Garg said that during interrogation, Nikhil Thakur disclosed that one Sonu Mehta and his wife Diksha were also involved in the theft of ATM cards. “Acting on information, the police arrested the couple and recovered 10 stolen ATM cards and a Maruti Ertiga car from their possession,” the SSP added. Disclosing the modus operandi, SSP said that Nikhil Thakur used to move in Zirakpur and Panchkula areas to conduct recce of the ATMs located in secluded areas and find vulnerable targets. Sonu and Diksha used to guard the ATMs and on the pretext of helping people, they would swap the debit cards then withdraw money from ATMs. Nikhil Thakurm the police said, is a habitual offender and had a similar case registered against him in 2021 at Kharar (city) police station following which he spent one-and-a-half years in jail. He was currently out on bail. Sonu is a drug peddler and has two cases registered against him. He too was out on bail. A case under Sections 379 (theft), 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered against the accused at Zirakpur police station. They were produced in the court and were remanded in two-day police custody.
