Gujarat carpenter mule account for Rs 22.3 cr stolen from Chennai man, arrested

CHENNAI: A team of city police arrested a 28-year-old Gujarat man from Ahmedabad in connection with a complaint filed by a senior citizen from Chennai who lost Rs 22.3 crore to cyber scammers who lured him into investing in fake trading apps.

The arrested person, Patel Jay, was a mule account holder whose bank account was used by cyber fraudsters to park the money stolen from the Chennai resident.

The cyber crime wing of the Chennai police initiated a probe based on a complaint from Swetharanyan (76) of Royapettah in June after he lost Rs 22.3 crore in an online trading scam.

Tracing the money trail, the city police learnt that about Rs 3 crore was transacted to Ahmedabad and after collecting details of the account holders, a team led by Cyber Crime Inspector Abraham Cruz Durairaj went to Ahmedabad in the first week of September and with the co-ordination of the local police, the city police team picked up the accused from his residence on September 5 (Friday).

"We had zeroed in on a couple more suspects. But they had given a bogus address to the bank. The arrested person has a permanent residence in Ahmedabad," a senior police officer said.

Patel Jay worked as a carpenter and did menial jobs, and his bank account was flagged in 31 cybercrime cases in several states across the country.

He was produced before a magistrate in Ahmedabad, and after obtaining a transit warrant, he was brought to the city and remanded in judicial custody on Tuesday.