Cop Bust Fraud Racket, 14 Arrested, Several Absconding

Nalgonda: Sathupally police have arrested 14 persons, including the prime accused Udathaneni Vikas Choudhary, for their alleged involvement in a cyber fraud network.

Police identified the arrested as Udathaneni Vikas Choudhary, a native of Mustibanda village in Dammapet mandal of the district, and Adapa Rama Venkata Charan. Those arrested for allegedly assisting the main accused by providing bank account details include Ilasarapu Anirudh, Potru Vamshi, Potru Chaithanya Sai, Dosapati Naveen, Nallabothula Bhavani Sathya Shekar, Kapuganti Jogendra Seshu, Devalla Venu, Mamidishetti Sai Kumar, Patan Imran Khan, Uppathala Gopi and Dobbala Venkatesh.

Police said several others, including Boppana Nagapriya, wife of Vikas Choudhary, Islavath Lakshmi Kalyan, Sheelam Venugopal Rao, Nallangula Swethan, Veeramshetti Vamshi, Billa Sai Tharun, Sangam Praveen Kumar and Bhukhya Tarun are absconding.

Presenting the accused at a media conference at Sathupally police station, assistant commissioner of police (Kallur) Vasundhara Yadav said a case was registered against Vikas Choudhary, Nagapriya and Rama Venkata Charan under Section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 66-D of the IT Act, following a complaint from a cybercrime victim.

During interrogation, the arrested accused allegedly confessed to cheating people using 12 mule bank accounts. The ACP said the main accused had established links with individuals in other countries and set up a call centre in Hyderabad, through which victims were contacted and cheated in the name of high-return investments in stock markets and cryptocurrency trading. The network was also involved in OTP fraud, online gaming, betting and matrimony-related cyber crimes.

She said the accused added unsuspecting persons to Telegram groups and sent malicious links to steal personal details and siphon money from bank accounts. Rama Venkata Charan allegedly worked as an agent for Vikas Choudhary and lured people in the Kallur area to open current accounts by offering a monthly payment of Rs50,000, claiming the accounts were required for cryptocurrency trading. He reportedly paid Rs 20,000 each to 18 persons for opening bank accounts.

Police said Vikas Choudhary allegedly transferred the defrauded amounts into mule bank accounts before routing them to his personal accounts and converting the money into US dollars and cryptocurrency.

The ACP said the total amount involved in the fraud is yet to be ascertained and investigations are continuing. She added that Vikas Choudhary is also an accused in an earlier financial crime involving nearly Rs 550 crore through mule bank accounts.