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THE WORRYING RISE OF FRAUDSTERS ON THE PROWL ONLINE
Mint Mumbai
|November 11, 2024
Within the first three months of 2024, fraudsters had extorted sums totalling ₹120.3 crore
Do you remember D. K. Panda, the 1971 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre who, one fine day while in service, declared himself to be Radha, the divine consort of Lord Krishna? He would arrive in office dressed as a woman; he began signing official paperwork as "Doosri Radha" (Radha, the second). When his kin, close associates, and subordinates began making fun of him, he sought voluntary retirement from the police service. Panda now lives in Prayagraj. He was all but forgotten until a few weeks ago but was back in the news after he lodged a complaint alleging criminal intimidation and cheating with the Dhoomanganj police. Panda claimed some people had been trying to extort ₹8 lakh from him by threatening to frame him in a terror funding case.
He told the police that he had built a ₹381-crore fortune through online trading. When he tried to redeem that sum into his bank account, a person—whom Panda identified as Arav Sharma from Cyprus—called him and asked him to deposit ₹8 lakh towards tax, conversion, liquidity, transaction fee, and other charges incurred on account of the trading.
This story is from the November 11, 2024 edition of Mint Mumbai.
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