Mumbai: The crime detection unit (Zone I) attached to the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police claim to have busted a gang of crooks who duped people by siphoning-off money from their bank accounts on the pretext of helping them use Automated Teller Machines (ATM’s). One of the gang members had fraudulently withdrawn Rs.50,000 from the account of a 59-year-old retired police constable-Anil Laxman Jadhav who had gone to an ATM kiosk of a leading private sector bank in Bhayandar (east) to obtain the mini statement of his account on 17, April, 2024. After facing technical glitches, the crook stepped inside the kiosk and under the pretext of offering help asked to enter his personal identification number (PIN) and press the cancel button. Jadhav complied but could not get the statement.
A few minutes later he was shocked to receive short message service (SMS) alerts from the bank intimating about two withdrawals amounting Rs.40,000 and Rs.10,000, following which Jadhav immediately registered a complaint with the Navghar police station under section 379 of the IPC. Alarmed by several similar incidents, the crime branch unit was roped in to conduct parallel investigations into the case. A team led by API-Prafful Gangurde under the supervision of police inspector-Aviraj Kurhade started investigations. Based on footage captured by closed circuit tele-vision cameras (CCTV) in the kiosk and possible getaway routes, the team narrowed down their suspect list to a Gujarat-based gang.
3 Notorious ATM Crooks nabbed
On the virtue of inputs by informers and supported by a robust electronic surveillance system apprehended the trio from Vapi in Gujarat. The accused who have been identified as-Shiv Shankar Ramu Prasad (25), Prince Vinod Jaiswal (28) and Upendra Singh Rampravesh Singh (45) are said to be involved in a spate of similar crimes in various parts of Thane and Mumbai. The accused originally belonged to Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. Explaining the modus operandi of the gang, an investigating officer said, the gang members posed as customers in-queue at ATM’s and duped unsuspecting people under the pretext of offering help.
They would observe the PIN’s a person was entering into the system, replacing the card with a swift sleight of hand and later using it to make fraudulent withdrawals from other ATMs even before the account holder could block his card. Meanwhile the case has been handed over to the Navghar police station for further investigations.
