Vardhman Group chairman S P Oswal duped of Rs 7 crore by inter-state cybercrime gang; 2 held in Assam

According to police, the fraudsters threatened Oswal with fake arrest warrants, which they claimed were issued by the Enforcement Directorate, Mumbai. The fraudsters also showed Oswal a fake Supreme Court order, directing him to “release Rs 7 crore into a Secret Supervision Account (SSA)”, to get the amount transferred to their bank accounts in August last week.

According to the FIR, registered on Oswal’s statement, the fraudsters accused him of involvement in a money laundering case related to Naresh Goyal, the Jet Airways founder arrested by the ED in September last year. They also held a “fake Supreme Court hearing via Skype call” and the “case was heard by someone who impersonated the Chief Justice of the country Justice D Y Chandrachud”, the FIR stated. Later, a fake court order “duly stamped” was shared with Oswal via WhatsApp, it said.

Sharing his ordeal – that lasted from August 29 to August 30 — Oswal told The Indian Express, “The fraudsters accused me of being involved in a money laundering case related to Naresh Goyal. I have never spoken to Goyal or met him. I don’t know him. The fraudsters kept me under digital surveillance for two long days, including in the night while sleeping. Posing as CBI officers, they instructed me to keep the Skype in my phone on even during sleep and someone from the other side used to watch over me for the whole night,” he said.

“During the fake Supreme Court hearing via Skype, they introduced the fake judge as Justice Chandrachud, though I could not see his face. But I could hear him talking and banging a hammer on the table. The written SC order was so perfect and stamped that I believed it to be genuine and transferred the amount,” Oswal said to The Indian Express.

“They also said that an account in Canara Bank has been opened in my name in Mumbai which has irregularities and that I sent a parcel illegally. I was so intimidated that I could not share it with anyone as they said it would be considered a violation of a law,” he said.

“I also received some other fake documents of the Supreme Court which mentioned the case as ‘Justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud Vs Shri Paul Oswal’,” he said.

“Another document “24×7 Surveillance Rules & Regulations” which stated 70 points which I had to follow when I was under their digital surveillance was also shared with me. These included not obstructing the camera view, “must not send text messages without permission” and “not allowed to receive phone calls without permission” among others,” said Oswal, to The Indian Express.

“They also sent me a CBI order stating that I have been taken into ‘digital custody’ and mentioned that it was related to Naresh Goyal’s case,” Oswal said.

The police got into action after an FIR was lodged on August 31 at Ludhiana’s Cyber Crime Police station under provisions of BNS and IT Act. Ludhiana Police Commissioner Kuldeep Singh Chahal told The Indian Express, “After the FIR was registered, the priority was to get the bank accounts of the accused frozen at the earliest to recover the money. Swift action was taken to ensure the money is recovered.”

An amount of Rs 5.25 crore was recovered and transferred back to Oswal’s bank accounts, police said. Citing the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, set up by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, they said this was the biggest-ever recovery in India in the category of cyber crimes.

Giving further details of the case, Inspector Jatinder Singh, incharge, cyber crime cell of Ludhiana Police, told The Indian Express, “On August 28 and 29, the accused, posing as CBI officers, contacted Oswal on his personal contact number and claimed that a parcel has been confiscated by some officials in Mumbai and that he was involved in money laundering. The accused also sent him fake arrest warrants and an order issued by the Supreme Court. They also claimed that a suspicious parcel was sent abroad by Oswal.”

“The accused made video calls to the complainant on Skype, wearing formal clothes with ID cards around their necks, and with some flags in the background to make it look like they were sitting in the office of an investigating agency,” said Inspector Singh.

“The complainant transferred Rs 7 crore into the bank accounts of the accused — Rs 4 crore in one tranche and Rs 3 crore in three tranches of Rs 1 crore each,” he said.

Oswal approached police after inconsistencies were pointed out to him when he opened up to a senior member of one of his companies.

After the FIR was lodged, a probe was initiated. “We identified and traced the accused within 48 hours. They belonged to Assam, Delhi and West Bengal. Police teams were sent to Guwahati and other cities to arrest them. An amount of Rs 5.25 crore was recovered from the bank accounts linked to the gang members and the transactions reverted to Oswal’s account,” said Inspector Singh.

The two arrested accused from Guwahati were identified as Atanu Choudhary and Anand Kumar. Singh said both were small-time businessmen who were looking for easy money after suffering losses.

Police are on the lookout for seven others: Nimmi Bhattacharjee (Guwahati); Alok Rangi and Gulam Mortaza (Malda, West Bengal); Sanjay Sutradhar (Hazarapar, Assam); Rintu (Nalbari, Assam); Rumi Kalita (Guwahati); and one Zakir. Rumi Kalita is a former bank employee and “had complete knowhow of how such transactions are managed”, Singh said.