₹16,180 crore siphoned off after hacking of payment gateway company account; Thane police register FIR
The Hindu
Thane police uncover ₹16,180 crore fraud involving payment gateway service provider. Five accused named in FIR, including ex-bank manager. Probe reveals forged documents, money transferred to several accounts. Investigation underway.
A group of persons allegedly hacked into a payment gateway service provider company’s account and siphoned off funds worth over ₹16,180 crore from different bank accounts over a period of time, the Thane police said.
The fraud was taking place since long and came to light following a complaint lodged with Srinagar police station in Maharashtra’s Thane city of hacking of the payment gateway account of the company in Thane in April 2023 and ₹25 crore being siphoned off, an official from Naupada police station said.
When the police conducted a probe into it, a mega fraud worth over ₹16,180 crore came to light, the official said quoting the FIR. Following a complaint by a Thane crime branch official, the Naupada police in Thane on October 6 registered the FIR against Sanjay Singh, Amol Andale @ Aman, Kedar @ Sameer Dighe, Jitendra Pandey and another unidentified person under Indian Penal Code Sections 420 (cheating), 409 (criminal breach of trust), 467, 468 (forgery), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) and provisions of the Information Technology Act.
No arrest has been made so far, the police said.
As per the FIR, accused Jitendra Pandey earlier worked for 8 to 10 years with banks as relationship and sales manager.
The police suspect there may be many players in this mega racket, which has been going on since long, and may have pan India ramifications affecting several companies and individuals, the official said.
The crime is suspected to be spread over thousands of bank accounts and the money transferred into several other accounts, as per the FIR.
While residents are worried over deaths due to diarrhoea in Vijayawada, officials still grapple to find the root cause. Contaminated drinking water supplied by VMC officials is the reason, insist people in the affected areas, but officials insist that efforts are on to identify the disease and that those with symptoms other than diarrhoea too are visiting the health camps.