CHENNAI: The Crime Branch CID of Tamil Nadu has successfully dismantled an inter-state gang involved in an elaborate Iridium trading scam. The gang, which specialiSed in impersonating senior officials of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has been cheating victims across the country.
The breakthrough came following a complaint from a resident of Coimbatore, who was defrauded of Rs 3 crore. According to the investigation, the accused initially posed as businessmen dealing in Iridium trade.
The victim was falsely told that several crores of rupees were lying deposited with the RBI and would be released upon the payment of Rs 10 lakh as ‘processing charges’ for clearing the files. Fraudsters assured him that the funds would be credited within two months.
After the initial payment was made, he was taken to New Delhi, where he was introduced to individuals impersonating officials from the Foreign Exchange Department of the RBI. They wore fake RBI identity cards, conducted a fake ‘official interview’, collected the victim’s biometric fingerprints, and issued forged documents such as credit advices and dispatch orders to gain the his trust.
Subsequently, additional sums of money were extorted from the victim under various pretexts, including claims that payments were required to expedite the release of funds by senior RBI officials.
Following the complaint, a case was registered at the Krishnagiri CBCID unit for offences including cheating, criminal conspiracy, impersonation of RBI officials, and forgery using the name and emblem of the central bank.
In a coordinated operation conducted on February 9 and 10 this year, six special teams led by Inspectors and comprising 25 police personnel apprehended the accused. The arrests were made with the assistance of local police in their respective states. The arrested individuals have been identified as: Sonu Kumar Dubey (Bihar), Aashish Kumar (Bihar), Gopal Sekar (Bihar), George Thomas (Telangana), Gulshan Darad (Jharkhand) and Srinivasan (Karnataka)
All accused have been remanded to judicial custody. During the operation, investigators seized 8 mobile phones with SIM cards and 2 laptops from their possession. Preliminary investigations have revealed that the gang has cheated approximately 23 individuals across various states, amassing a total of approximately Rs 5.65 crore.