Three Interstate Thieves Arrested for Targeting Exam Candidates
he arrest came following a complaint filed by Degala Lalitha, a teacher who lost valuables worth Rs 43,000 during the AP teacher eligibility test last October.
Visakhapatnam: The police have arrested three interstate criminals involved in a theft operation that targeted youths by stealing ATM cards from their vehicles and making fraudulent bank transactions.
The arrest came following a complaint filed by Degala Lalitha, a teacher who lost valuables worth Rs 43,000 during the AP teacher eligibility test last October. She had kept her gold jewelry, a mobile phone, a debit card, a SIM card, and Rs 2,000 as cash in her scooter's trunk outside the ION Digital Centre in Sheela Nagar, Gajuwaka.
The theft initially appeared to be a simple case of stealing. But, Lalitha reactivated her new SIM card, she found that fraudsters had done fraudulent transactions worth Rs 16,000 from her bank account using OTP-based authentication.
The police, investigating the case, noted that multiple such cases had been reported across Gajuwaka, Pendurthi, airport and Arilova police stations.
The investigation team led by inspector Srinivas Rao arrested three suspects at Sheela Nagar. They were Prince Kumar (28), son of Bisweswar Singh; Krishan (22) and Dharmender Kumar, alias Mohit (31), all hailing from Uttar Pradesh.
Investigations revealed that the trio had been operating across states, targeting examination venues where candidates typically store valuables in their vehicles while writing tests. The gang was encouraged by the fact that those writing exams would not come out for a specific period.
Property worth Rs 895,667 was recovered. The recovered items include Rs 5,08,500, 12 gift vouchers worth Rs 1,20,000, three mobile phones and six SIM cards.
Several cases have been registered. The case with the highest fraud provisions related to one in which property worth over Rs 3 lakh was lost in Pendurthi police station limits.