CBI arrests cybercriminal after massive search operation across 10 states
New Delhi (PTI): The CBI has arrested an alleged cybercriminal after conducting a massive countrywide search operation across 35 locations as part of a sweeping multinational crackdown on cyber-enabled financial crimes, officials said on Monday.
Christened Operation CyStrike, the crackdown was launched on January 30 in coordination with law-enforcement agencies in the United States, the United Kingdom, Kuwait, Ireland, and Singapore.
The CBI officers searched 35 locations across 10 states, including Delhi, Bihar, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Telangana and West Bengal.
The raids disrupted multiple cybercrime networks based in India that targeted victims in the United States, the United Kingdom, Kuwait, Ireland, Singapore, and India, officials said.
"During search operations, CBI busted and dismantled a transnational cyber-enabled financial crime network being operated by the accused persons from New Delhi, targeting US victims online. Electronic devices, viz laptops / mobile phones/computer hard disks containing incriminating digital evidence related to the crime, were recovered and seized from the accused. The key operative was arrested on the spot," the CBI spokesperson said in a statement on Monday.
The central probe agency busted another transnational cyber-enabled financial crime network, operating from New Delhi, Ghaziabad, and Karnataka, under the domain name 'eservicemoi-Kw.com', under the guise of providing Kuwaiti e-Visas and offering appointments for working in leading Kuwait companies to Indian nationals in exchange for money, she said.
The search operation led to the seizure of electronic devices such as laptops, mobile phones, computer hard disks containing fake Kuwaiti e-Visas and appointment offer letters for working in leading Kuwait companies, besides cash of Rs. 60 Lakhs, the spokesperson informed further.
"During search operations, CBI also dismantled the transnational cybercrime networks being operated by the accused persons targeting the victims from the United Kingdom, Ireland and Singapore online and defrauding them. The mule accounts involved in channelising the proceeds of crime from the foreign victims to the accused persons were identified and taken down," she added.
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BJP 'mastermind' behind Sunetra Pawar's appointment as deputy CM, claims Saamana
Mumbai (PTI): The Opposition Shiv Sena (UBT) on Monday claimed the BJP leadership was the "mastermind" behind NCP leader Sunetra Pawar taking oath as Maharashtra deputy chief minister, just days after her husband Ajit Pawar's demise.
An editorial in the Sena (UBT) mouthpiece 'Saamana' also alleged that the BJP leadership and Nationalist Congress Party leaders Sunil Tatkare and Praful Patel do not want the unification of the two NCP factions.
Sunetra Pawar took oath as the state's first woman deputy CM on Saturday, barely three days after NCP leader Ajit Pawar was killed along with four others in an air crash at Baramati in Pune district, inviting criticism from some quarters over the pace at which the development took place.
Rival NCP (SP) chief and Ajit Pawar's uncle, Sharad Pawar, on Saturday claimed that he had "no idea" about her swearing-in.
The editorial said Sunetra Pawar's deputy CM post should not be ornamental, and opined that she may not be "gungi gudiya" (mute doll) and work effectively.
The NCP is in an alliance with the "sanatani-minded" BJP, and Sunetra Pawar taking oath even before the completion of her husband's post-death rituals does not fit into the Hindutva beliefs, it claimed.
The editorial said that the question before Maharashtra is on whose wish Sunetra Pawar took oath as deputy CM, because neither NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar, its working president Supriya Sule, nor members of the Pawar family were aware of this.
Sunetra Pawar didn't even give the slightest hint that she was leaving for Mumbai from Baramati for the swearing-in, it said.
The BJP leadership is the "mastermind" behind this politics, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) claimed.
"The complications have increased in the Pawar family and Maharashtra politics after Ajit Pawar's death. Many wish that these issues do not get sorted out," it added.
The editorial claimed that after Ajit Pawar's death, there was unease in the NCP, as some leaders became more ambitious and there was a race to take charge as the deputy CM within the party.
There are differences between Patel and Tatkare, and Sunetra Pawar was "installed" as deputy CM because the party of "Patil-Pawar" should not go to Patel, it claimed, referring to NCP Working president Praful Patel.
Sunetra Pawar was made to steer the ship, but its engine and control are with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Both Sunetra Pawar and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena can maintain their existence at the mercy of Fadnavis, the Sena (UBT) charged.
The editorial said that the BJP will surely contest the 2029 assembly polls independently, and many MLAs from the Shiv Sena and the NCP will join the saffron party.
