CHENNAI: In the National Capital Region (NCR), where his company is headquartered, Gulshan Darad is just another IT start-up founder. At his village in Giridh district in Jharkhand though, he is an unanointed village chieftain of sorts. And TN Police learnt that white-collar criminals too have local support like dacoits.
“It seems he had the biggest house in the village and hence the status and sway among the locals. When our team of police personnel went to apprehend him, they got surrounded by about 20-30 villagers,” recalled a senior police officer on the recent operation in Jharkhand to secure Darad.
While there was zero cooperation from the locals, the slur ‘Madraswala’ was dished out in abundance, the officer noted. Learning from earlier experiences, TN Police were prepared and had coordinated with Superintendent of Police in the area well before the operation.
“In police operations in other states, logistics are always a problem. While we had the logistics sorted, we did not expect the commotion,” the officer said.
The presence of about 4 police gunmen with SLR (single loading rifles), courtesy of the Giridh district SP, brought the situation under control and helped the CB-CID team to secure Gulshan.
Villagers did not give up easily though. Doctors at the nearest hospital were allegedly threatened into not issuing a fitness certificate. So, the police took Gulshan to the district HQ hospital (around 50 km away) from his sphere of influence.
A battery of lawyers appeared and argued in Gulshan’s defence at the local court, where the police had gone to obtain a transit warrant to take him to TN. “We were not represented by any Public Prosecutor. Our Inspectors convinced the magistrate with the facts of the case. Considering the gravity of the offence, the magistrate had approved of the transit warrant,” a CB-CID officer noted.
All this trouble and Gulshan is not even the mastermind of the scam. As per the CB-CID, he was among the six accused arrested in a coordinated inter-state operation.
The other accused in the case are his partner in the start-up, George Thomas of Telangana, Srinivasan of Karnataka and Sonukumar Dubey, Ashish Kumar and Gopal Sekar – all three from Bihar. Six special teams comprising more than 25 police personnel fanned out across the states and arrested them on February 9 and 10.
The inter-state operation was based on a complaint from a Coimbatore-based businessman who lost Rs 3 crore to the gang. They had posed as businessmen dealing in Iridium trade and had ‘RBI officers’ authorised to sanction the trade.
According to a police official, George Thomas did the canvassing and lured the businessman into the devious scheme. The victim was told that there were several crores of rupees in RBI, which would be released on payment of an amount of Rs 10 lakh as processing charges and assured that the funds would be credited within two months.
After he paid Rs 10 lakh, he was taken to New Delhi where he was made to meet persons who impersonated as officials of RBI’s foreign exchange department. “Dressed impeccably and speaking fluent English, the con man conducted ‘official interviews’, collected biometric fingerprints, and issued forged documents such as credit advice and dispatch orders. The victims end up falling for it hook, line and sinker,” police said.
Subsequently, the victim is milked on various pretexts, including payments purportedly required for RBI officials to expedite the release of funds. The Coimbatore victim ended up paying Rs 3 crore.
When he realised he was cheated, he approached the CB-CID after which a case was registered in Krishnagiri CB-CID unit for cheating, criminal conspiracy, impersonation of RBI officials, and fabrication of forged documents by misusing the name and emblem of the RBI.
“The mastermind of the operation is Sonukumar Dubey,” said a CB-CID official. “Our initial probe has revealed that he has a couple of cases in Maharashtra.”
A graduate in his early 30s, Dubey speaks perfect English and over time has become well versed in officialese too. Preliminary probe revealed that Dubey poses as the RBI official while meeting the victims. His associates take up the roles of PRO, office assistants, etc. One of the accused, Gopal Sekar, has not even completed high school, police said. “We’ve frozen Dubey’s bank accounts,” an official said.
Mastermind of the operation is Sonukumar Dubey, a graduate in his early 30s, who speaks perfect English and over time has become well versed in officialese too. He poses as the RBI official while meeting the victims
Probe has revealed that the gang cheated around 23 persons across various states to the tune of Rs 5.65 crore. “While the mastermind is from Bihar, none of his victims are from there; they’re all from the southern states. They assumed that police from the south would rarely catch their trail and that they could resurface after laying low,” a CBCID official pointed out.
Police seized 8 mobile phones and 2 laptops from the accused and further investigation is underway to identify other victims.
As for Gulshan, who started his IT start-up early last year? He had also forayed into an app-based ride-hailing platform and travel company operating out of Noida, just a few months back...after he had taken people for a ride.