With the arrest of Bhagavan Ram Patel, one of the major culprits involved in the online scam where a doctor in Cherthala lost Rs 7.6 crores, the police suspect that the fraud was orchestrated by an international racket involving members of different nationalities.
“We are stunned at the extent of this racket,” an official at Alappuzha District Crime Branch said. “The person we arrested on Monday is a major member of the racket, but he is not a top member. He is being interrogated. We hope to gain more details by the end of the week.”
The Rs 7.6 cr online scam was the largest online scam the state had ever seen. Last July, the police had arrested three persons from Kozhikode involved in the scam. At the time, the police had expressed confidence in reaching the main brains behind the scam in a short time, which was supposedly being carried out from north India. However, that turned out to be a false lead. For the past two months, the investigation team had been tracking down further clues, eventually leading to Bangalore-native Bhagwan Ram Patel.
“The investigation team has since been bolstered with the addition of new members. What we are dealing with is a very sophisticated and well-operated racket. There are more people involved and we are trying to find out their whereabouts. Further arrests will be made, but we cannot tell when or how. Dismantling this racket will take time,” the official said.
The police are also looking into whether more people have lost money to this racket in the state. Bhagwan Ram Patel was arrested by Crime Branch DySP Sunil Raj, along with SI Agustin Varghese and ASIs Vinod V.V. and Harikumar from Yelahanka in Bengaluru upon the instructions of District Police Chief Mohanachandran IPS on Monday.
