AURANGABAD: The Aurangabad rural police have charged a 44 year old man, who worked as the regional zonal manager with an e-gateway, under sections of the rigid Official Secrets Act for leaking a confidential letter from the police department to a key accused in the Mahaecentre.com scam. The Official Secrets Act, 1932, is India's anti-espionage law.
A senior police officer told TOI, "This is perhaps after a very long time, particularly over the last couple of decades, that a private person has been charged under the Official Secrets Act in the Marathwada region. The act often is considered to be a draconian law."
Another police officer added that with the case being brought under the purview of the act, the accused may not get bail for over a year.
The accused has been identified as Hitesh Kumble and he hails from Karnataka. The police were in for a shock when a confidential letter they had sent to Kumble, who acted as the regional zonal manager of the gateway firm, was found with an accused arrested by the rural police on October 16.
Aurangabad Superintendent of Police (rural) Arti Singh said, "We have slapped the accused of sections of the stringent Official Secrets Act for leaking the confidential letter to a person, who has been accused in the scam."
Investigation in the case has concluded that Kumble is the kingpin of the cheating racket.
Earlier, on October 16, the rural police nabbed accused Shekhar Omkarprasad Poddar (32) from Nagpur, who developed a website and ended up duping several people of lakhs of rupees. During preliminary investigation, Poddar admitted to duping around 80 people to the tune of Rs50 lakh.
The accused floated the website www.mahaecenter.com and so as to make it appear to be a legitimate government of India website, used the national emblem on its home page. Through the website, they would offer to get an authorized outlet from the government to issue Aadhar card, PAN card, birth and death certificates, income tax certificates, etc. The accused duped a number of people by claiming to have authorized bill collection centres where the amount for different utility bills would be collected.
The accused came up with several plans on the website and charged people any amount, starting from Rs15,000, as the initial payment to provide crucial government certificates. They collected the money through an easy payment gateway, a channel used by several e-commerce websites, and managed to evade arrest for over a year.
A senior police officer told TOI, "This is perhaps after a very long time, particularly over the last couple of decades, that a private person has been charged under the Official Secrets Act in the Marathwada region. The act often is considered to be a draconian law."
Another police officer added that with the case being brought under the purview of the act, the accused may not get bail for over a year.
The accused has been identified as Hitesh Kumble and he hails from Karnataka. The police were in for a shock when a confidential letter they had sent to Kumble, who acted as the regional zonal manager of the gateway firm, was found with an accused arrested by the rural police on October 16.
Aurangabad Superintendent of Police (rural) Arti Singh said, "We have slapped the accused of sections of the stringent Official Secrets Act for leaking the confidential letter to a person, who has been accused in the scam."
Investigation in the case has concluded that Kumble is the kingpin of the cheating racket.
Earlier, on October 16, the rural police nabbed accused Shekhar Omkarprasad Poddar (32) from Nagpur, who developed a website and ended up duping several people of lakhs of rupees. During preliminary investigation, Poddar admitted to duping around 80 people to the tune of Rs50 lakh.
The accused floated the website www.mahaecenter.com and so as to make it appear to be a legitimate government of India website, used the national emblem on its home page. Through the website, they would offer to get an authorized outlet from the government to issue Aadhar card, PAN card, birth and death certificates, income tax certificates, etc. The accused duped a number of people by claiming to have authorized bill collection centres where the amount for different utility bills would be collected.
The accused came up with several plans on the website and charged people any amount, starting from Rs15,000, as the initial payment to provide crucial government certificates. They collected the money through an easy payment gateway, a channel used by several e-commerce websites, and managed to evade arrest for over a year.
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