Bhubaneswar, May 29: In a major crackdown on cyber fraud, Bhubaneswar Cyber Police arrested four cyber criminals involved in three separate cases of online cheating and financial fraud. Among the accused, three belong to the notorious Jamtara gang of Jharkhand, while another is from West Bengal.
The arrested accused have been identified as Alauddin Ansari alias Kink Khan, Birendra Das, Abhishek Kumar Das of Jamtara district in Jharkhand, and Ayan Nandy of Nadia district in West Bengal. Police seized mobile phones, laptops and several incriminating documents from their possession. Notably, Abhishek is the son of a police personnel.
According to police, on September 12, 2025, a youth received a fake traffic violation message on his mobile phone claiming that an RTO fine had been imposed against him. After opening the fraudulent link and entering personal details, Rs 7 lakh was siphoned off from his bank account. Based on the complaint lodged at the cyber police station, police registered a case and arrested three accused from Jamtara in April this year. However, mastermind Alauddin and Abhishek had managed to evade arrest.
To trace them, a special team led by Inspector Om Prakash Mohanty was formed on May 19. After camping in Jamtara district for seven days, the police team succeeded in arresting Alauddin, Birendra and Abhishek.
During investigation, police found that the gang was not only involved in fake traffic challan scams but was also creating malicious APK files. Once downloaded, these files gave cyber criminals complete access to victims’ mobile phones, enabling them to steal money from bank accounts.
Police further revealed that the gang had recently started duping people in the name of a fake political outfit called “Cockroach Janata Party.” The accused allegedly circulated membership links across different states. Once users opened the links and submitted their details, money was fraudulently withdrawn from their accounts. The gang was also involved in investment frauds.
In another case, a woman reportedly lost Rs 39.21 lakh after downloading a malicious APK file sent by the gang on January 7 this year. During investigation, police found that Abhishek used an application named “Protect Bot” to create the fake APK files.
Similarly, a retired government employee who had invested Rs 26 lakh online in 2023 later realised that he had been cheated. He lodged a complaint at the cyber police station in July 2024. Though police initially failed to trace the accused, Cyber Police SI S. Subhashree reopened the probe last month and traced links to accused Ayan Nandy of West Bengal, leading to his arrest.
All four accused were produced before the court on Friday in connection with the three cyber fraud cases.
