Agartala: The Crime branch of Tripura police brought two accused of financial fraud on transit remand from Samastipur of Bihar on Sunday and the duo were produced before the court on Monday seeking custodial trial.
Both of them are allegedly involved in hacking a large number of accounts of beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandhana Yojana (PMMVY) not only in Tripura but also in other states.
The report claimed that they looted about Rs 50 Lakh from the beneficiary accounts during the lockdown as soon as the money was transferred from the government accounts.
According to police, based on an FIR registered at Kailashahar police station of Unokoti district in North Tripura last year, Navneet Kumar and Vinod Kumar were arrested from Samastipur last week in a joint operation of Bihar police and Crime branch officials of Tripura.
They are accused of hacking the bank accounts of about a hundred of beneficiaries of PMMVY in the Unokoti district and cloning them with their accounts.
The scheme provides a benefit of Rs 5,000 in three installments to a woman not employed in government sectors for her first living child, as partial compensation for loss of wage during her pregnancy so that she can get proper nutrition.
A senior police official said Navneet and Vinod were part of the bank fraud gang operating across the country. The cybercrime wing of Tripura police had detected these two in the money fraud case of the state particular to PMMVY beneficiaries. They pulled out the money when the entire nation was under prolonged lockdown and the physical activities of the customers in the bank were suspended.
The matter was reported to the Social Welfare department by the beneficiaries at the end of 2020 and after cross-checking the facts, it was revealed that the entire money of those accounts was automatically shifted to the accounts of these two accused immediately after credit to the beneficiaries accounts and then an FIR was lodged.
Tripura Crime branch initiated a probe in connection with the fraud and tracked them at a location in Bihar by using modern technology. They were interrogated at the New Capital Complex police station here by the senior police officials and they reportedly divulged some information about the network and modus operandi.
