Chandigarh, Aug 11, 2022 (Yes Punjab News)
In order to effectively deal with the increasing cases of ATM fraud, the State Crime Branch of Haryana Police has established 22 ATM Fraud Investigation Cells (AFICs) in all districts across the state.
Giving the information here today, a Haryana Police spokesperson said that the State Crime Branch has handed over 132 untraced cases from different districts to the AFIC for investigation. The AFIC started functioning last month.
In this growing digital world, ATMs are an important part of the common man’s life. Citizens do their daily transactions using ATM facilities. In the present era, fraudsters cheated people, replaced their ATM cards with another, and withdrew money instantly from that account. Though constant efforts are being made by the police to deal with such crimes in a coordinated and effective manner, yet many times untraced reports are given by the district police in such financial fraud cases, and the accused escape.
Additional Director General of Police, State Crime Branch, Sh. O.P. Singh has given stern instructions to crack such cases and work on untraced cases again. To this concept, ATM Fraud Investigation Cell has been started under the State Crime Branch.
In December 2021, Ravindra resident of Bhiwani had lodged a complaint that he went to the ATM located at Rohtak Gate, Bhiwani to withdraw money. After returning home, he was shocked to see that about Rs 55000 had been withdrawn from his account by ATM. After the complaint, the crime was declared untraceable by the district police. This case was handed over to AFIC, Bhiwani for re-investigation. On investigation, it was found that Rs 55000 had been withdrawn by swiping the card at ATM machines and petrol pumps at different places. Based on the facts, AFIC’s ASI Pradeep started a thorough investigation. During the course of the investigation, the accused was identified after scanning the CCTV footage. The accused is already convicted in another case and lodged in Sunaria Jail. Accused Sunil, a resident of Rankpura Rohtak was taken on a production warrant and was arrested. During interrogation, accused admitted to being involved in many crimes and gave information about other accomplices.
Based on the information, another criminal Rahul alias Chauda, a resident of Rankpura, Rohtak, who is an expert in ATM fraud and clones. It was also found that apart from several districts of Haryana, a case is registered against the accused in Punjab and in the same cases, the accused is already in jail in Rohtak. Three days remand was obtained by presenting the accused in the court, where he confessed to the fraud of a total of Rs 3.84 lakh. About Rs 64,500 have also been recovered from him. In addition, both the accused have given information about another partner, and further investigation is underway.
Often the accused escape due to lack of evidence in the investigation, but ATM Fraud Investigation Cell has been established keeping in mind these crimes so that the hard-earned money of the citizens can be saved. At present, AFIC is studying all the untraced cases thoroughly so that the criminals can be put behind the bars and the public trust in police can be further enhanced.
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