New Delhi, May 6: The Delhi Police has registered over 300 cases in connection with cheating and black-marketing or hoarding of oxygen cylinders and medical equipment during the second wave the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said on Thursday. Delhi Police’s Public Relations Officer (PRO) Chinmoy Biswal said a total of 303 FIRs have so far been registered in connection with such incidents.
“Of these, 225 were registered in connection with cheating people on the pretext of providing Remdesivir injections and oxygen cylinders in the last few days, since a helpline (011-23469900) number was launched to receive public complaints along with the cyber helpline (155260), which is already in service. “Seventy-eight cases of black-marketing and hoarding of oxygen cylinders and medical equipment have been registered and a total of 144 people arrested so far,” he said.
The cooperation of the police forces of other states has been sought to nab members of the organised gangs of cyber frauds operating from Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Mewat etc., whose links have been found during a technical analysis by the Cyber Cell and the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police, Biswal said. The Delhi Police is also working to de-operationalise these inter-state gangs by freezing suspicious bank accounts and transaction gateways through the National Payments Corporation of India, he added.
In one of the cheating cases, the police arrested three persons, including a woman, for allegedly cheating people on the pretext of selling oxygen cylinders. The accused were identified as Yashika (26) and Priyesh (27), both residents of Indirapuram (Ghaziabad), and Phagun (29), a resident of Dilshad Garden, the police said.
The matter came to light on Monday after a man named Tushar Gupta reported that one of his COVID-positive relatives was duped when he called a mobile phone number circulating on WhatsApp for oxygen cylinders. The person asked him to pay Rs 45,000 for a cylinder, a senior police officer said.
He transferred the amount to that person. However, after receiving the money, the accused started ignoring his calls and messages. During investigation, the police obtained the bank account details of the complainant and the accused. It was revealed that in three days, a total of Rs three lakh were deposited in the account of Yashika. The money was subsequently transferred to Phagun’s account, the officer said.
The police arrested Phagun from his Dilshad Garden residence. On his instance, the main accused, Priyesh, and his fiancee Yashika were also apprehended, the police said. Interrogation revealed that Priyesh and Phagun are friends. They were doing odd jobs for the last six months and were in need of money, they said.
They circulated the mobile number of Priyesh on different WhatsApp groups and used the bank account of Yashika for financial transactions.
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