Representative image of arrest.
Credit: iStock Photo
Thane: The police in Maharashtra's Thane city have arrested one more person in connection with the financial crime that involved breaching the system of a payment gateway service provider and siphoning off more than Rs 16,180 crore, an official said.
With the latest arrest, the police have held four persons so far in connection with the case registered at Naupada police station, the official said.
The police apprehended the fourth accused Dinesh Dhondu Shirke (49), a partner in an enterprises firm, from the western suburb of Andheri in neighbouring Mumbai, he said.
Shirke's involvement in the crime was prima facie revealed during the probe conducted by the cyber cell, the official said.
The police had on Thursday arrested one Amol Andale alias Aman, Anup Dubey (26) of Bhayandar, and Mumbai resident Sanjay Namdeo Gaikwad (42), a partner in a firm.
According to the police, the fraud had been taking place for a long time, but it came to light after a complaint was lodged with the Shrinagar police station about the hacking of the payment gateway system of the company in April 2023 and Rs 25 crore being siphoned off.
During the probe, the cyber cell team came across suspicious transactions of more than Rs 16,180 crore.
The Naupada police in the city on October 6 registered a case against five persons under sections 420 (cheating), 409 (criminal breach of trust), 467, 468 (forgery), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) and provisions of the Information Technology Act.
The cyber cell team is probing into the crime and more arrests are likely as many others were involved in the mega fraud that was carried out over a period of time, the official said.
The police had earlier said that the accused allegedly set up several partnership firms on bogus documents to launder the amount.
As many as five partnership firms were set up by the accused, and transactions to the tune of Rs 16,180 crore were revealed after the inspection of 260 bank statements, police had said.