The Jharkhand police arrested four people in Hazaribagh district for their alleged involvement with the cybercrime syndicate with links to Pakistan, news agency PTI reported, citing an officer on Sunday. The four allegedly cheated a person in Punjab of Rs 1.63 lakh. The investigators reached Hazaribagh with the help of a phone number used in the crime.
The police stated that 10 mobile phones, 36 SIM cards, 37 debit and credit cards, 12 passbooks and chequebooks, a two-wheeler, a four-wheeler, and other articles were recovered from them. According to PTI, the four arrested are in the age group of 19 to 25. They were arrested in a locality in the Korra area, around 105 km from Jharkhand's capital, Ranchi.
Hazaribag Superintendent of Police Manoj Ratan Chothe said that during interrogation, the accused confessed that they were operating under a Pakistani handler. "Since it is a serious matter, we are trying to find out whether this money was meant for cyber crimes or any other purpose that is against the interest of the nation," the SP said, as quoted by PTI. Chothe, however, did not share much about the case for the sake of investigation.
The SP said that an online fraud of Rs 1.63 lakh was committed in Punjab on November 28, and the phone number was found to be linked to a place somewhere in Jharkhand. "After getting the information, we found that the number is active in a locality in Korra. We set up a team and conducted raids. First, we arrested two persons and then, following their interrogation, picked up the other two," he said, as quoted by PTI.