Delhi crime: Accused used fake identity cards to get 63 bank cards for shopping (Representational)
The Delhi Police has busted a gang of eight people - six of them members of the same family living a posh locality in west Delhi - for using fake identity cards to open multiple accounts in 13 banks and got get 63 debit and credit cards to shop for expensive items worth at least 3-4 crore rupees.
Rs15 lakh cash, jewellery, two card machines, and a cumulative sum of Rs 50 lakh in their accounts across banks have been seized by the police.
The police have also seized all the fake debit and credit cards, 83 cheque books and fake identity cards - 31 PAN cards, 18 Aadhaar cards, 30 Voter ID cards. Some 15 SIM cards and cellphones, bought using these documents, have also been recovered.
According to the police, the accused turned to crime after the prime accused's family business suffered heavy losses some six years ago.
The scam, however, was only uncovered recently after an internal audit at the CITI Bank found 36 accounts had been opened using fake personal identification documents.
Based on a complaint filed by CITI Bank, Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing started looking into these accounts. Police investigation revealed the accused used simple disguises to get identification documents issued under different names.
The accused have been identified as Kanwal Raj, his wife, two sons Ajay and Manish Kshatriya, their wives, Arun Sharma and his wife. All of them have been arrested.
According to the police, 25-year-old Sharma is the mastermind who started this scam in 2013-14 after his father's company, which manufactured switchboards, suffered heavy losses.
"He roped in two people - Ravi Sachdeva and Umesh - to make fake Aadhaar, PAN and voter identification cards to open multiple accounts in 13 banks and got 63 debit and credit cards issued," senior police officer OP Mishra said.
Sachdeva and Umesh are yet to be arrested.