Manmohan Singh's former media adviser Sanjaya Baru falls victim to cybercrime

Sanjaya Baru, who was former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's media adviser, became the latest victim of cybercrime when suspected cheats lured him to transfer Rs 24,000 for delivery of liquor, police said on Sunday.

One of the suspects Akib Javed, a 31-year-old man who works in a taxi company, was arrested by Delhi Police from Rajasthan's Bharatpur on Saturday following investigations.

According to the police, Baru had searched online for purchasing liquor and he found an online liquor shop 'La Cave Wines and Spirits' with its contact number.

Baru placed an order through telephone and the person on the other side asked him to transfer the money. However, after the money was transfered, the phone number cited online was switched off.

After Baru approached police, investigators analysed bank statements, flow of cheated money and call details, which revealed that the mobile numbers and the bank accounts were obtained on the basis of fake KYC details to avoid their detection.

Investigators then looked into the flow of money by obtaining the technical evidence of transactions and was also obtained from the bankers.

Analysis of mobile numbers used to avail alerts from the bank showed that the cyber criminals belong to Kaman in Bharatpur.

"To mislead police investigation, they had taken SIM cards and bank accounts in the crime which were subscribed or registered in different states like Assam, Maharashtra, Punjab and Rajasthan. It came to light that the cheated amount has been transferred to one PNB account in the name of Akib Javed," Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Atul Kumar Thakur said.

According to Thakur, Javed told his interrogators that his associates used SIM cards in fictitious names using fake addresses of different states. Similarly, they used to obtain bank accounts on the basis of fake addresses of other states to drain out the cheated amount.

"Within 5-10 minutes, they diverted the cheated amount in 3-4 bank accounts or money wallets and later diverted it to their desired accounts. All these activities were done in a much planned manner so that investigating agencies could not reach them in an easy way. They also tried their best to leave no trace," Thakur said.