Lawyer arrested in Kerala PFI Case: NIA
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New Delhi (PTI): The National Investigation Agency has arrested a lawyer in a case related to "unlawful and violent activities" by the banned Popular Front of India in Kerala, an official said on Friday.
Mohammed Mubarak A I, a resident of Edavanakkad in Ernakulam district, was the fourteenth person to be arrested in the case, subsequent to searches conducted at 56 locations in the state on Thursday, a spokesperson of the federal agency said.
"Mubarak is a PFI (Popular Front of India) martial arts and hit squad trainer/member. He is a practising advocate in the Kerala High Court," the official said.
The spokesperson said that an assortment of arms, including an axe, swords and sickles, concealed in a badminton racket bag, were seized from his house during the searches.
"Investigations have confirmed that the PFI was raising, training and maintaining hit squads in different states and districts to target leaders and members of other communities," the spokesperson said.
In a major crackdown against the PFI in Kerala, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had conducted searches at 56 locations across 12 districts at the residences of seven state executive committee members and as many zonal heads of the PFI.
Houses of 15 physical training instructors or trainers and seven members trained in using knives, daggers, swords and other types of weapons to carry out murderous violent acts were also searched, the official said.
The crackdown also covered 20 other suspects in connection with the case which was registered suo-moto on September 19.
Earlier, the NIA had conducted searches at 24 locations in Kerala, including at the offices of the PFI and residences of 13 accused, on September 22.
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Bank account in Ramgarh tracked for fraudulent fund transactions across 24 states, 4 arrested
Ramgarh (Jharkhand) (PTI): Jharkhand police on Thursday said it has unearthed a network of interstate cyber frauds and arrested four miscreants for fraudulent transactions through a bank account in Ramgarh district after complaints of 274 suspected transactions in 24 states.
The states where complaints for fraudulent transactions were registered included Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.
The action followed inputs received through 'Samanvaya portal', a centralised, web-based platform launched by the Union Home Ministry to curb cybercrime.
"We arrested four cyber miscreants after a current account with Kuju (Ramgarh) branch of the State Bank of India was found to have registered suspected financial transactions in 24 states with the help of the Pratibimba portal of the Home Ministry through the Samanvaya portal," Ramgarh Superintendent of Police Mukesh Kumar Lunayat said.
During the probe, police found that the account was opened under the MSME Udyam Registration scheme in the name of Shree Ganesh Enterprises, he said.
The account had been linked to as many as 274 complaints from different states related to cyber fraud and illegal fund transfers.
The registered proprietors of the enterprise were identified as Rahul Gupta (37), Ravi Kumar Verma (34), and Ajay Sharma (33), all residents of Ramgarh district, a statement from the Ramgarh police said.
During interrogation, Rahul Gupta and Ravi Kumar Verma revealed that they had opened multiple current accounts at the behest of Ritesh Agrawal alias Munna (40) and Sonu Kumar Jha (34).
They admitted receiving Rs 1.2 lakh in exchange for facilitating the opening of these accounts.
"The accused further confessed to sharing OTPs, activating mobile banking services, and handing over control of the accounts to the main operators through WhatsApp and Telegram groups. These accounts were then allegedly used to route fraudulent transactions.
Police said mobile data analysis of the accused led to the recovery of crucial digital evidence, including details of SIM cards, bank accounts, passbooks, ATM cards, QR code scanners, Aadhaar cards, and PAN cards shared through messaging platforms.
A total of four accused have been arrested so far and sent to judicial custody.
A case has been registered at the Cyber Crime Police Station under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023 and Sections 66C and 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
Further investigation is underway, the police said.
