Man held for creating NCP leader’s fake account
MUMBAI, July 26: A businessman allegedly created a fake WhatsApp account using the name and photo of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Praful Patel and sought money from some people abroad, including members of Qatar’s royal family, police officials said on Friday.The businessman, Rahul Kant, a resident of Mumbai suburb of Juhu who had obtained the NCP leader’s mobile phone number from a paid application, has been detained by the Maharashtra Cyber police,.Kant used Patel’s name and photo as DP to create a fake WhatsApp account of the latter and then started demanding money. He targeted people based abroad and they included members of Qatar’s royal family.The incident came to light on July 23, when an aide of Patel,approached cyber officials.A case was registered and probe launched during which officials tracked down the man and detained him following interrogation.The businessman was facing financial problems and hence used this modus operandi to make quick money, the official added. (PTI)
CBI busts call centre that duped foreigners
GURUGRAM, July 26: The CBI has arrested 43 suspected cyber criminals as it busted a call centre in Gurugram which allegedly duped foreigners by offering technical solutions to problems with their computers, officials said Friday.The CBI raided the office of Innocent Technology Pvt Ltd operating from DLF Cyber City. where the central agency found several agents on live calls aimed to cheat foreigners, they said. The CBI is in touch with the FBI and law enforcement agencies in multiple countries through INTERPOL for follow-ups on the leads.The agency has alleged that the intended victims were induced to download malicious softwares on their systems which blocked their computers.The victims were subsequently induced to make payments for restoration of their system. (PTI)
Former PWD chief engineer, 2 others arrested for corruption
NEW DELHI, July 26: A former chief engineer of PWD and owners of two private firms were arrested by the Anti-Corruption Branch in connection with corruption in Delhi government-run hospitals during the Covid pandemic, an officer said on Friday. The officials of Public Work Department allegedly paid the private firms for no work or incomplete work against fake bills that led to a loss of around Rs 200 crore to the exchequer.Anil Kumar Ahuja, a former ADG and then chief engineer (health zone) of PWD, and Vinay Kumar and Akshitiz Birmani, owners of AV Enterprises and Vivek Associates, were identified as accused. The ACB scrutinised various work awarded to different private firms and contractors for work in Delhi government hospitals during the COVID-pandemic.During investigation, the unit found that Ahuja allegedly approved 56 works that were subsequently awarded to 10 firms without having made a distinction between ‘Emergent’ and ‘Urgent Work’.Certificates that such awards must have spawned were found missing from the files. (PTI)