Chandigarh,UPDATED: May 7, 2023 22:58 IST
By Manjeet Sehgal: The Cyber Crime wing of Chandigarh police has arrested a person on charges of helping the instant loan application scam kingpin and Chinese national, Stark, to flee India in 2022.
The accused, who has been identified as Bharat Kumar Lakhmani (41), is a resident of Karol Bag, New Delhi. He had helped Stark flee the country when the police launched a crackdown against the Chinese nationals involved in the loan scam besides their Indian associates.
“In July 2022 when the police launched a crackdown against the Chinese nationals who were living illegally in India and were involved in crimes including the instant loan app scam, he (Bharat Kumar Lakhmani) had dropped the kingpin, Stark, at the Nepal border,” a Chandigarh police spokesperson said while adding that the accused was still in touch with the loan scam kingpin who was now operating online.
“Bharat Kumar Lakhmani was involved in the instant loan scam and would get his share through USDT by using different crypto wallets,” the officials said.
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Investigations done by the Chandigarh police have revealed that the accused Bharat worked in China from 2006 to 2011. In 2016 he along with some Chinese nationals started a mobile accessories business in New Delhi.
They incorporated a shell company in the name of Alpha Genetech Pvt Ltd. Bharat and his wife were directors of this company which as per the investigations was dealing in digital marketing and online dating applications.
The accused Bharat had met Stark in 2022 through his Chinese friend named Yao. He had also rented out a flat in Gurugram where he stayed with Stark. The police officials said that the accused knew that Stark was using a fake Nepal passport.
“He had introduced other accused Ashish Jain, Daksh Partap Singh and Ayush Agarwal to Stark in order to convert Indian currency into USDT. In June 2022, a meeting was held at Connaught Place, New Delhi, in which the commission amount was also decided. The cheated money deposited in the shell firm bank accounts was routed to Stark’s account who would convert the same to USDT,” the police officials said.
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Meanwhile, the police officials said that an amount of Rs 17.31 lakh has already been recovered from the accused. Rs 60 lakh deposited in 20 bank accounts has also been frozen.
The police officials further said that so far 34 accused involved in the loan scam have been arrested.
ACCUSED BLACKMAILED LOAN SCAM VICTIMS
The investigations have revealed that the accused would ask the gullible people to install the Instant Loan application and then would blackmail them by morphing their photographs in the name of recovery. The transactions were reportedly made using bank accounts of shell companies, bogus political parties and trusts. The accused also included Income Tax consultants, advocates, directors of shell companies and firms, Hawala operators, property dealers besides the Chinese nationals.
60 people who were harassed in the name of recovery committed suicides in various parts of the country. The police received 1,578 complaints on the basis of which 89 FIRs have been registered so far.
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