Bhubaneswar, Oct 30 : The Crime Branch of Odisha Police has arrested 24 fraudsters from Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Rajasthan who were involved in a cyber fraud case of Rs 6.28 crore, said Vinaytosh Mishra, Additional Director General, Crime Branch, on Wednesday.

'On September 24, a senior officer of JSPL company, Kuntal Majumdar lodged an FIR with us that he was automatically added to an investment group on WhatsApp, 'KOTAK INVESTMENT CLUB'. Persuaded by investment-related advice shared in the group by the admin, he invested Rs 6.28 crore,' said Mishra.

The complainant has reportedly invested a total of Rs 6.28 crore between August 1 to 7 against a purchased share of 25,40,000 @ Rs. 19 per share.

Mishra further stated that as per the complainant, the base price of the share purchased by him suddenly increased to Rs 110 with an increase in his fund value of Rs 25 crore.

'When the complainant sought to withdraw the money, the group admin allowed him to withdraw Rs 23 crore on August 21. However, when he attempted to withdraw his funds, he was promptly removed from the WhatsApp group by the Group Admin, and the App used for transactions was deactivated,' informed Crime Branch sources.

The Cyber Crime Unit of the Crime Branch followed the money trail and found that the entire fraud amount of Rs 6.28 crore had been transferred to 100 different bank accounts across the country between August 1 to 7. The cops already froze all the 100 accounts with a credit balance of Rs 16.85 lakh while another Rs 6.80 lakh was returned to the account of the victim.

ADG Mishra also told the media persons that after getting the details of bank account holders, several teams of the Crime Branch were sent to different parts of the country during the last seven days.

The cops have so far arrested nine accused from Tamil Nadu, eight from Gujarat and seven from Rajasthan. Six of the accused persons were produced before the Court of SDJM, Angul on October 28 while 11 others were produced in the same Court on Wednesday. Seven accused persons from Rajasthan, who are being brought to Odisha on transit remand, will be produced before the court on Thursday.

He said that several more arrests will be made by the Crime Branch teams sent to some other states. He said that the Crime Branch was trying to arrest all the accused involved in the fraud, including the kingpins. He informed the media that the holders of six bank accounts to which the fraud amount was transferred first are the actual kingpins of this racket.

/IANS