Mumbai: 2 held in Malad for duping people at ATM kiosk

Mumbai: Kurar police have arrested two men for swapping customers’ debit card with fake ones on pretext of helping them at ATM kiosks in Malad (east). The police said the men – Pravin Mishra and Nanhe Pandey – are part of five-member gang who have deceived customers in Maharashtra and Gujarat. Three members of the gang are still wanted in the case.

“There are over two dozen cases of similar nature of crimes registered against them in Maharashtra and Gujarat. But it was the first time that they have been arrested,” said Zonal Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Dr. Vinaykumar Rathod.

The police initiated probe after a Kurar resident Deepak Patel reached police station after he was conned by the gang when he visited SBI ATM on February 15.  “When Patel visited SBI ATM kiosk, one of the gang members approached him to help. At the time of helping Patel to withdraw cash, the man asked for his PIN number which he made mental note and he smartly replaced Patel’s debit card with fake one after the transaction was over,” said Rathod. After few days Patel realised that he has been conned by men at ATM kiosk and registered complaint against unknown persons at Kurar police station.

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Using Patel’s original debit card, the conmen withdrew Rs. 25000 cash besides transferring Rs 40,000 to their one of the bank accounts. They also purchased jewellery worth Rs. 49,000. After studying CCTV footage of the ATM kiosk, the investigators found the registration number of gang’s motorcycle. Based on the address obtained from RTO, the Kurar police arrested Pravin Mishra from his house in Nalasopara.

During interrogation, Mishra revealed the names and contact details of his accomplices including Nanhe Pandey, Ankit Singh, Lalit Pandey and Rahul Dubey. “Based on the mobile tower location, we arrested Nanhe Pandey from Bhadoi district in UP on March 1,” he said. The Kurar police have recovered two gold rings, one gold bracelet, two motorcycles, Vivo handset and cash, collectively worth Rs 1.93 lakh from their possession.