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Investigations revealed that the main accused, Pradeep Mandal, had amassed properties worth Rs 9.9 crore and was also involved in money laundering. The properties included at least three buildings in Jamtara district, a Mahindra Scorpio car and two motorcycles. (Representative image)
During the investigation, the Enforcement Directorate found that the accused, in collusion with others, obtained funds from his bank accounts and bank accounts of his family members by defrauding bank customers and some other individuals and invested the same in building houses and purchasing vehicles.
A special PMLA court in Ranchi on Saturday convicted five Jamtara residents – Pradeep Kumar Mandal, Pintu Mandal, Ganesh Mandal, Ankush Kumar Mandal and Santosh Mandal – of organised internet fraud.
The initial FIR in the case was filed in 2015 at Narampur police station in Jamtara district in Jharkhand under sections 414 (aiding concealment of stolen goods), 419 (punishment for cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating and dishonesty), 467 (forgery of valuable securities, wills, etc.), 468 (forgery for fraudulent purpose) and 471 (using a forged document as genuine) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 66(b), 66(c) and 66(d) of the Information Technology Act.
The Netflix series Jamtala is said to be based on a real-life incident in which some criminals launched phishing calls and bank account scams from the region, which has been known as the “cyber crime capital” for many years.
Operation Mode
In his statement, accused Ganesh Mandal told the Enforcement Directorate that Pradeep Mandal and Pintu Mandal used to collect phone numbers of bank customers from the internet. Later, he would call customers pretending to be bank managers and illegally obtain their ATM/bank account details and subsequently transfer the funds to himself. The gang also used other means to collect information about customers’ ATM details.
Another accused, Ankush Mandal, also revealed that they would call bank customers posing as bank managers and claim that their cards might be blocked to obtain their ATM details. Subsequently, an OTP was generated and after receiving the code from the victims, the amount was transferred from their accounts to Paytm, Vodafone and other digital wallets and then to Mandal’s bank account.
recover
Investigations revealed that the main accused, Pradeep Mandal, had amassed properties worth Rs 99 lakh and was also involved in money laundering. The properties included at least three buildings in Jamtara district, a Mahindra Scorpio car and two motorcycles.
During its investigation, the ED found that none of the five had any legitimate source of income to acquire the property.
The special PMLA court chaired by Justice Prabhat Kumar Sharma found all the five accused guilty and their sentences will be announced on Tuesday.
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