Bhubaneswar: Commissionerate police arrested a man from Rajasthan on Thursday for his alleged link with a gang of cyber criminals, who had extorted Rs 11 lakh from a city-based postal officer by accusing him of being involved in a money laundering case related to Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal. The accused was identified as Kishore Rana (24) from Jodhpur.
According to the police, an unknown member of the gang recently called up the victim by introducing himself as an officer of the telecom department and told him that Mumbai Police had received several complaints that his phone number was involved in criminal activities.
Before the victim could respond, the caller connected him through video call to a fake cop, who exploited his fear and anxiety by claiming that they have found his link to Goyal in an alleged money laundering scam.
Goyal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in September 2023 on allegations that he had laundered money and siphoned off bank loans to the tune of Rs 538.62 crore given to Jet Airways. The victim was threatened that he would be arrested. The fake cop shared a bogus arrest warrant with the victim and tried to take advantage of his anxiety. “The scammers asked him to share his bank and property details. They demanded Rs 11.8 lakh from him as security deposit and assured to return his money once the inquiry against him is over in seven days,” said commissioner of police Sanjeeb Panda. Assuming the officers to be genuine, the victim succumbed to their pressure and transferred Rs 11.8 lakh to a bank account shared by them.
When the victim did not get his money back after seven days, he lodged a complaint with cyber crime police station, here, last month.
During investigation, police found that the account belonged to Rana, whose role was limited to opening mule accounts to help scammers receive money from duped people.
Police said the unknown masterminds of the crime were operating from Dubai.

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