SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2024
Team Herald
PANJIM: The man, who attempted to con people by impersonating as Goa Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant through social media, is finally in the custody of Goa Police.
Mohd Shakir Husain was arrested in a joint operation of police teams from Goa, Mewad and Mathura based on initial investigation into a complaint accusing unidentified accused of creating CM’s fake Facebook account to seek monetary help from the social media users.
Goa Cyber Crime Cell, on July 20, was informed that a miscreant had faked CM’s Facebook account by using his name and photograph to trap social media users for monetary gain on July 16.
“He would request his victims to transfer the money into PayTM account by impersonating as Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant and thereby attempted to cheat the people. An offence was registered followed by investigation,” said an official.
A press release issued by Superintendent of Police Shobhit Saxena stated that the accused would create fake social media profiles of various public servants and politicians and mimic their original profiles. He would then use the fake profile to contact “friends” and ask for money on various pretexts like medical emergencies etc.
“From discrete and technical investigation in this crime revealed that the present crime was being committed from Mewat, Haryana and Mathura, Uttar Pradesh and surrounding area. Accordingly, information regarding the suspect was shared with the Mewat and Mathura Police,” it said.
In a joint operation supervised by Superintendent of Police Mewat Narendra Bijarniya, IPS, Husain a resident of Mathura was apprehended.
The accused had tried to escape but was caught after a hot pursuit by the police personnel. During the search over 200 SIM cards of different mobile service providers were recovered from the car.
“Further joint investigation is also ongoing in Police Station Chhata at Mathura wherein details of the large number of victims through the use of hundreds of SIM cards is being analysed,” the press statement stated.
