12 interstate cybercriminals arrested by Bengaluru police

Bengaluru: The Adugodi police in southeastern Bengaluru have arrested 12 people, mainly from Uttar Pradesh, for operating a sophisticated cybercrime ring, police officials said on Wednesday.

The two key suspects arrested are Harshavardhan Ojha (25) from Balia in UP and Sonu (27), from Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra. Ojha, a BTech graduate, was unemployed, while Sonu, a high school dropout, worked as a labour contractor from Mumbai, although he was originally from Prayagraj in UP.

Their arrested associates are Akash Kumar Yadav, 23, Gorakhnath Yadav, 20, Sanjith Kumar, 25, Akash Kumar, 19, Amith Yadav, 19, Gaurav Pratap Singh, 22, Brijesh Singh, 20, Raj Mishra, 21, Tushar Mishra, 22, and Gautam Shailesh, 25. Apart from Sanjith, who was from Bihar, the rest were from different parts of Uttar Pradesh.

The investigators have recovered 400 SIM cards, 140 ATM cards, 17 cheque books, 27 mobile phones, 22 bank passbooks, an income and expenses ledger and Rs 15,000 in cash from them.

According to the police, a complaint was registered at the Adugodi station on January 22, 2025, where a homemaker was cheated of Rs 5 lakh. The 42-year-old victim from LR Nagar was lured with a work-from-home opportunity but was asked to transfer money so that her “low credit score” could be fixed, and she could be paid for her work. Believing them, the victim transferred the money in multiple transactions.

The police who began the probe issued a notice to the person who held the bank account to which the woman transferred the money, and found that it was opened at the behest of Sonu, the labour contractor.

On April 19, the investigators traced Sonu to his workplace in Mumbai. Sonu told the police that he had opened the bank accounts through the labour contract workers and sent the passbooks, ATM cards and SIM cards to the suspects in Uttar Pradesh. For this, he received Rs 1,500 as commission per bank account.

Investigations also revealed that the commission paid varied, and for bank accounts from nationalised banks, it was Rs 18,000 to Rs 20,000. All the suspects were arrested and produced before a local Uttar Pradesh court on April 27.

The following day, they were brought to Bengaluru on a transit remand, interrogated and produced before a local court that remanded them in judicial custody. Adugodi police inspector Ravi Kumar C oversaw the investigation.