Master Mind of “Moti-Mala” fraud arrested from Varanasi

Bhilai, Apr 04: Police arrested the master mind and his accomplice who cheated hundreds of women in Durg in pretext of providing employment. They had duped over Rs 2 crore from the women through their firm “Home Grown Corporation”, which provided work of stringing black pearls to make necklace (mala). To hide their identity, the accused used a fake Aadhar Card for staying in hotels, taking house and shop on rent as well as purchasing sim cards. They followed the same modus operandi to cheat the people in Rajasthan and Bihar as well. Rs 1,64,500 cash, gold chain, Mahindra Thar car total worth Rs 20.14 lakh were recovered from both the accused.
SP Dr Abhishek Pallava informed that they had received complaints from several women against one Sanu Kumar, who was the director of a firm “Home Grown Corporation” located at Prem Kamal Complex, Indira Market, Durg. The firm charged Rs 2500 as registration fee after which they executed an employment agreement according to which the company provided raw material for making black pearl mala and when the beneficiary returned the prepared malas, the company promised to pay Rs 3500. Many women deposited Rs 2500 in this firm and worked hard to make malas at home. When they reached the company’s office to deliver the finished malas, they found that the office had been shut down and the directors had escaped. Police lodged an FIR under section 420 of IPC and investigation was launched. A joint team of ACCU, CSP Durg Squad and Durg Police Station was deployed for investigation. The team interrogated the office staff of the Home Grown Corporation and collected information about the accused Sanu Kumar, his mobile numbers, bank account and other documents. Soon they discovered that the accused Sanu Kumar used fake documents to purchase Mobile numbers, hotel stay and rental house and make a Gumasta license. With sustained efforts, police managed to identify the accused as Sanu Kumar (24) son of Vijay Kumar a resident of Village Gogari, Tehsil Jamalpur, Police Station Gogari, District Khagaria Bihar. A special team led by CSP Vaibhav Banker and DSP (Crime) Prabhat Kumar was sent to Khagaria Bihar. The team discovered that the accused had gone on a tour to Nepal and then he will go to Varanasi. The team chased him continuously for 48 hours and arrested him from a rented house in Varanasi. During sustained interrogation, he confessed to have committed the crime. The accused disclosed that he came to Durg in the month of October with Rs 12 lakh borrowed money. He tricked a rickshaw puller and obtained his Aadhaar card. He used this aadhar card to make a fake Aadhar card by putting his photo. He used this fake document for different works in Durg. He found the space on rent at Prem Kamal Complex, Indira Market Durg on OLX and rented the first floor for Rs 40,000 per month after which he opened the well furnished office at this place. He took a house on rent in Anuska Residency Smriti Nagar Durg and recruited employees to run the office. When the work increased, he called his friend Sanjay alias Anand from Patna and engaged him in the work. Sanjay was also instructed to keep his identity hidden. Sanjay Kumar used to visit Delhi to buy black pearls and thread. The accused Sanu Kumar used to pay for the purchased materials through fake bank accounts. They had bought Black Pearls worth about Rs 40 lakh from Sadar Bazar, Delhi, which was distributed to the beneficiaries. Later Police arrested the accused Sanjay Kumar from his ancestral house in Patna.
Rs 1,64,500 cash, gold chain worth Rs 02 lakh, 01 Mahindra Thar worth Rs 16.50 Lakh were recovered from them. The accused Sanu Kumar (24) son of Vijay Kumar a resident of Village Gogari, Tehsil Jamalpur, District Khagaria Bihar and Sanjay alias Anand Kumar (26) son of Ashok Raut a resident of Ranipur, Police Station Phulwari Sharif, Patna Bihar were booked under the provisions mentioned in section 420 of IPC.
Sub-Inspector Deva Bharti from Police Station Durg, ASI Kirendra from Police Station Mohan Nagar, Constables Javed Khan, Kishore Soni, Nasir Baksh, Kamlesh Yadav, Gaur Singh, Peter Thomson from Police Station Mohan Nagar, Constable Javed Khan from CSP Squad, ASI Shamit Mishra, Head Constable Chandrashekhar Banjeer, Constable Pradeep Singh, Dhirendra Yadav and Javed Hussain from ACCU played a vital role in arresting the accused.