The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested a man for allegedly impersonating an official of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying and demanding bribes from applicants seeking loans under a government scheme, officials said on Sunday.
The accused, Prabhu Dayal, was arrested from his residence in Uttar Pradesh's Agra district after evading investigators for nearly three weeks. The agency registered a case on June 29 based on a complaint by a poultry farmer from Uttarakhand's Udham Singh Nagar district.
The complainant had applied for a ₹22.5 lakh loan under the Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) through the Udyami Mitra portal operated by the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). According to the complaint, the accused demanded ₹45,000, or 2% of the loan amount, to allegedly facilitate clearance of the application, PTI reports.
Trap operation leads to breakthrough
Hours after registering the FIR, the CBI laid a trap during which the accused allegedly accepted an initial payment of ₹5,000 by sending the complainant a QR code for a UPI transfer.
"The accused accepted a bribe of Rs 5,000, as the first instalment, from the complainant by sending a QR code on the complainant's mobile phone on June 29. Based on the QR Code and bank account details, the CBI arrested a private person from his residence on June 30; however, interrogation revealed he was not the main accused," the CBI spokesperson said in a statement.
The investigation later revealed that the main accused had access to details of AHIDF loan applicants and allegedly contacted several applicants every day, demanding money by falsely claiming that their applications would otherwise be rejected, delayed or require resubmission.
"The accused was taking money through UPI payments in other applicants' bank accounts through QR code and thereafter transferring it to another person's bank accounts through UPI transactions," the statement said.
Digital trail helped investigators trace accused
The CBI tracked the accused by analysing call detail records, bank accounts, IP addresses linked to loan applications and other digital evidence. Investigators also examined officials of SIDBI and AHIDF, along with several AHIDF loan applicants, as part of the probe.
According to officials, the agency found through sources and digital surveillance that the accused used multiple mobile numbers to demand money and frequently changed his location between Agra, Jaipur and Delhi in an attempt to evade detection.
