7 cyber thugs that cheated university of ₹120 crore arrested
The Cyber Cell and Uttar Pradesh Police have arrested seven people for allegedly attempting to defraud APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University (AKTU) of ₹120 crore. The suspects, posing as AKTU officials, opened a fraudulent account in the university's name at a nationalized bank and tricked bank officials into transferring funds. The money was then moved to an account belonging to a Gujarat-based charitable trust.
Fraudsters' modus operandi and arrest details
To carry out the theft, the fraudsters procured a letter required for fund transfer from Anuj Kumar Saxena, the branch manager of the public sector bank. They used this to open a second account in the university's name and transferred ₹120 crore in five instalments. The seven men were eventually arrested on Tuesday after bank officials, suspicious of the transaction, got an audit done and discovered the fraud.
Inside the deceptive scheme: Police's account
Addressing the media, Deputy Commissioner of Police (East), Prabal Pratap Singh, said, "The miscreants procured the email ID of the bank by contacting the bank's branch manager who was on vacation." They sent a fake letter to AKTU's bank branch, requesting a transfer to a fraudulent FD account they had opened in AKTU's name. "They then transferred the money in a company's account and withdrew around ₹1 crore," Singh added.
Bank manager's account of the fraudulent transactions
Bank manager Saxena reported that during his vacation, he received a call from a man identifying himself as Shailesh Kumar Raghuvanshi, who requested his visiting card to make a fixed deposit. Following this, Saxena received another call from someone claiming to be the finance officer of AKTU, inquiring about the FD rate at the bank. "The next day they got ₹49 crore, ₹49 crore and ₹22 crore transferred to the Vidhan Sabha Marg branch from the Jankipuram branch," Saxena stated.
Swift action prevents completion of fraudulent scheme
Saxena added that he sensed foul play after the large transfers and contacted the Gujarat bank where the trust has an account, requesting them to stop payment. "We are still probing the case and trying to ascertain if the gang committed such a fraud in other states too," said DCP Singh. According to police sources, bank executives implicated in the incident have been suspended, and an independent investigation is ongoing.
