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Following an investigation into a cyber fraud case registered last year involving a senior citizen from New Town who lost Rs 93 lakh, the Cyber Crime Wing of West Bengal Police has unearthed a massive pan-India racket that allegedly siphoned off Rs 317 crore from over 1,379 victims.
Investigators have traced a financial trail that allegedly revealed the use of 148 shell companies and conversion of funds into cryptocurrency to evade law enforcement. This led to high-profile search operations on November 6 at key locations in Kolkata — including the residence of industrialist Pawan Ruia, and premises linked to Ruia Centre and Dunlop Industrial Products Pvt Ltd.
According to police, a 65-year-old retired State Bank of India employee and resident of New Town had been added to an unknown WhatsApp group and lured with offers of high returns through stock market investments. The fraudsters allegedly claimed to provide “expert guidance” in share trading to ensure substantial profits.
“To gain the victim’s trust, the accused developed a fake mobile application and website displaying inflated profits, and even remitted small ‘profits’ initially. Subsequently, the victim deposited a total of Rs 93 lakh into multiple bank accounts provided by the fraudsters between November 2023 and January 2024, and was cheated,” said police officials.
A case was registered at Bidhannagar Cyber Crime Police Station on April 3, 2024, under Sections 419 (fraud), 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC. The investigation was later taken over by the Cyber Crime Wing (CCW). During the probe, one accused was arrested from Delhi Airport on November 1 while allegedly attempting to leave for London via Dubai.
As per police officials, further investigation revealed the “direct” involvement of a large organised cyber-fraud racket.
“Evidence shows that over 1,379 complainants across West Bengal and other parts of India have been cheated of approximately Rs 317 crore. The cheated funds were routed through numerous bank accounts belonging to 148 shell companies, many of which shared the same registered address, and were subsequently siphoned off to various mule accounts. The fraudsters converted a significant portion of the cheated money into cryptocurrency to evade detection and freezing by law enforcement agencies,” said a senior official of the West Bengal Cyber Cell.
Based on these findings and to prevent multiple overlapping cases, a consolidated suo motu FIR was registered at Barrackpore Cyber Crime Police Station on November 5, under Sections 336 (forgery), 338 (forgery of valuable security), 339 (possession of forged document), 340 (forged document), 317(4) (habitual cheating), 318(2) (cheating), 319(2) (cheating by personation), 61(2) (criminal conspiracy), 111 (organised crime) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) and Sections 66C and 66D of the Information Technology Act.
On November 6, simultaneous search operations were conducted at the Ruia Centre (46 Syed Amir Ali Avenue, Park Circus), Dunlop Industrial Products Pvt Ltd (129 Park Street, 5th Floor, Berger House, PS Park Street), and at the residence of Pawan Ruia under Ballygunge Police Station.
The searches led to the seizure of six mobile phones, foreign (Dubai) SIM cards, a MacBook, 10 laptops/hard disks/server units, seven Wi-Fi routers, 12 pen drives, as well as PAN cards, cheque books, and extensive documentation related to shell companies.
Preliminary analysis indicates that Rs 170 crore of the total defrauded amount was converted into cryptocurrency. The investigation is ongoing.
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