Cyber fraud of Rs 1.82 crore busted in Rajasthan; man held with 136 fake SIM cards

Jaipur: In a joint operation, the State Cyber Crime Investigation Centre, Chennai, and Jhalawar police have arrested a 33-year-old man accused of providing infrastructure to cyber fraud syndicates across the country, officials said on Friday.

The accused, identified as Mohit Gochar, a resident of Jhalawar, was linked to an investment trading fraud case of Rs 1.82 crore registered in Chennai, Superintendent of Police Amit Kumar said.

He was tracked through intelligence inputs and local informers, police added.

According to police, Gochar acted as an agent for organised cybercrime syndicates. He allegedly procured identity documents such as Aadhaar and PAN cards, opened multiple bank accounts, and arranged fake SIM cards.

These were later sold to cybercriminals for online fraud and illegal money transfers.

During his arrest, police seized 136 fake SIM cards, seven chequebooks, two bank passbooks, eight debit cards, a company seal, QR codes and a diary linked to "Shopping with Dream Home", confirming his widespread involvement, officials said.

SP Kumar said the investigation trail reached Jhalawar after suspicious transactions were traced to Gochar's ICICI Bank account.

A Chennai cybercrime team led by DSP R Priyadarshini arrested the accused with the assistance of Jhalawar police.

The Chennai team has taken the accused on transit remand for further investigation to uncover the larger cybercrime network, officials added.