The kingpin behind the AEPS fraud cases in Mangaluru is still on the loose, according to the city police commissioner. Three individuals from Bihar have been arrested in connection with the fraud, which involved the misuse of biometric data. The police have recovered documents from various locations. TNN reported
Mangaluru: The city police commissioner, Anupam Agrawal, announced that the mastermind behind the Aadhaar-enabled payment system (AEPS) fraud cases in Mangaluru is still on the loose. Recently, three individuals from Bihar were arrested for their alleged involvement in multiple AEPS fraud cases. These cases involved individuals who had registered their properties at the sub-registrar office in Mangaluru within the past six months and had lost money from various banks through AEPS.
The three arrested suspects were taken to Bihar for further investigation. During the search, the police seized laptops, printers, and other items from the accused. The suspects have been remanded in judicial custody. So far, the police have received around 60 complaints and have registered 10 cases related to the misuse of biometric data. Preliminary findings suggest that there are three to four gangs operating in Bihar involved in AEPS fraud.
The city police have reached out to various police stations in Karnataka and other states, including Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, to inform them about the fraud cases. Interrogations of the arrested suspects revealed that the kingpin would send them documents downloaded from Kaveri 2.0 software and other state software. Each suspect was assigned a task, and based on the fingerprints from the documents, they would develop it and use it to transfer cash through AEPS. Documents downloaded from Chikkamagaluru, Bengaluru, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh were recovered from the laptops and computers confiscated from the accused. More than 100 documents were downloaded from the Telangana sub-registrar’s office software.
In other news, the police are still awaiting the postmortem report to determine the cause of death of Vadiraj KA, the general manager and chief compliance officer (CCO) of Karnataka Bank. The police have collected details from the bank as part of their investigation.
Recently, the Mohali police successfully solved a carjacking case within seven hours of the crime and arrested three suspects. The accused individuals, identified as Akashdeep Singh, Abhishek Thakur, and Rajvir Singh, residents of Zirakpur, have been remanded in police custody for six days. The snatched car, along with the vehicle used in the armed snatching and weapons, were recovered by the police. The police will also investigate any other similar crimes committed by the accused during their custody.
In Coimbatore, a special team has been formed by the police to apprehend the individuals involved in a ragging case at PSG College of Technology. Seven students have already been arrested for ragging a second-year student and have been sent to jail. The victim was subjected to verbal abuse and physical assault by a gang of eight students who demanded money from him. The victim’s pleas for release were ignored, and he was even forced to clean up his own trimmed hair from the room. The college has suspended all eight students involved in the incident.
In Madurai, a youth suspected of being involved in a chain snatching case was shot by the city police. The incident occurred when the police attempted to arrest the suspect, identified as Stephen Raj, who allegedly attacked one of the officers with a knife. In self-defense, the police fired at Stephen Raj, injuring him in the leg. Both Stephen Raj and the injured police sub-inspector were admitted to Government Rajaji Hospital for treatment..