The police in Gandhinagar said on Tuesday that they had arrested 10 people from Gujarat in connection with a cyber fraud racket involving over ₹53 crore and spanning at least 20 states across India. The operation was carried out by a team from the Cyber Centre of Excellence based in the state capital.
Officials said one of the arrested accused, Sahilmia Shabbirmia Malek from Anand, allegedly provided a Karnataka Bank account belonging to Salman Vohra of Petlad town in Anand district. Vohra was previously named as an accused in the 2024 murder case of NCP leader and former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique in Mumbai.
According to a release, the arrests were made based on technical surveillance. The accused were allegedly operating on commission by facilitating the movement of money obtained through cybercrime activities. Investigations revealed that the network was linked to frauds amounting to ₹53.55 crore, with 132 complaints registered by victims across various states.
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The gang allegedly lured individuals into renting out their bank accounts, which were then used to collect and transfer money obtained through multiple online scams, including investment frauds, fake trading schemes, and UPI-related cheating cases.
Police recovered 11 mobile phones, several cheque books, passbooks, and debit cards during the operation. Analysis of the seized devices revealed details of 197 bank accounts, out of which 60 were directly connected to the 132 cybercrime complaints under investigation.
The fraud cases were reported across at least 20 states, with the highest number from Gujarat (22 cases), followed by Karnataka (14), Maharashtra (13), and Uttar Pradesh and Kerala with 10 cases each.
Those arrested include Nizamuddin Diwan, Tushar Valand, Moin Malek, Krupal Desai (all from Anand district), Sohil Malek from Borsad, Jignesh Patel, Vanraj Bharwad, Riken alias Rocky (also known as Pandit Patel) from Kheda district, and Akash Patel from Ahmedabad district.
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