Animation artist held from Pune for duping wholesalers online

New Delhi, Feb 28 After a chase for five days, an animation artist-turned-cyber cheat was arrested from Pune for duping wholesalers on pretext of offering 'pooja and havan' items at low market price, a Delhi Police officer said.

The accused was identified as Piyush Sharma, a resident of Kumar Puran Society, Mukud Nagar, Pune, Maharashtra.

According to police, a complaint from Yogesh Kumar, who runs a wholesale shop in Sadar Bazar, was received in Cyber Police Station, wherein he alleged that he was duped of Rs 1,73,100.

"Kumar alleged that he had placed an order on IndiaMart of 1200 kg items to be used in pooja and havan. He received a call from an unknown person who stated that he deals in wholesale trading (buying and selling) of kaudis, shankhs, garlands and rudraksh (items for pooja and havan) and can provide the said items in rates lower than that of market," said Sagar Singh Kalsi, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North).

"The alleged person even sent his tax invoice, registration certificate and one visiting card to gain the victim's trust. The alleged person thereafter took Rs 1,73,100 as advance payment and the rest of the amount was to be paid after order gets delivered. But as soon as the complainant transferred the advance payment, the accused person switched off his mobile phone and never delivered the items," said the DCP.

During investigation, a total of three complaints of similar modus operandi were found to be linked which clarified the fact that the accused was a habitual fraudster.

"Technical analysis of call details and money transactions were made and it was found that the accused was operating from Pune. After technical investigation, a raid was conducted at residential address Kumar Puran Society but it was found that the accused had left the said premises about seven years ago," said the official.

The accused was constantly changing his locations from Bengaluru to Pune and adjoining places of Pune and Mumbai, thus making it difficult for the team to nab the culprit.

"On the basis of technical investigation, the raiding team kept on chasing his location for five days incessantly. The laborious efforts of the team bore fruitful result when accused Piyush was arrested from an apartment in Pune," said the DCP.

On interrogation, it was revealed that during lockdown he was cheated by some persons through the similar modus operandi.

"This incident and lockdown doubly hit the accused and he suffered a huge loss which left him debt-ridden. To repay the debt and to earn quick money, he started cheating other businessmen across India through the same modus operandi," said the official.

"To execute his plans, Piyush placed a lead on IndiaMart (B2B Platform) in the name of Vijay Creations in which he showed himself as a trader of havan and pooja items delivering across the country. Moreover, he used to target people who have placed leads on IndiaMart (B2B Platform) regarding demand for havan and pooja items," said the official.

"Piyush has done a diploma in animations and has good knowledge of Adobe Photoshop, thus he can easily create and design fake visiting cards and can forge any bills or documents," the official added.