14 July,2017 06:47 AM IST | Mumbai | Vijay Kumar Yadav
The 250-page chargesheet filed by Mumbai Police against Bulgarian national Milcho Angelo, who was arrested in April in a card cloning racket reveals how he splurged a lot of the ill-gotten money on his lavish lifestyle
The 250-page chargesheet that the Mumbai cyber police has filed against Bulgarian national Milcho Angelo, 45, who was arrested in April in a card cloning racket, is a cornucopia of meaty details. The most prominent of them all - he splurged a lot of the ill-gotten money on his lavish lifestyle that included Rs 26 lakh rent on a plush Andheri home, Rs 8.5 lakh on dental appointments, and another Rs 2.5 lakh on just spa treatments.
Milcho Angelo was in the country on a tourist visa, but to validate his stay here, he acquired a fraudulent PAN card under an assumed name using forged documents. Representation pic
On Wednesday, the police filed the 250-page chargesheet against Angelo, following his arrest on April 14 after a complaint by a leading south Mumbai-based bank that retained one of the gold cards he was using in a Juhu ATM to pluck cash when it got stuck.
Chinese data compromised
According to sources privy to the investigation, Angelo is suspected to be a part of an international syndicate, which stole credit and debit card data of Chinese nationals via skimmers and later cloned cards to use in India.
However, no Chinese authorities have made contact with Maharashtra police yet and they still don't have details on the customers whose data was compromised.
The Indian ruse
Sources added that Angelo was in the country on a tourist visa, but to validate his stay here, he acquired a fraudulent PAN card under an assumed name using forged documents, most notably a reference letter from a former corporator named Virendra Tandel.
In his statement to the police, Tandel has denied supplying any such letter, and so charges of forgery have also been added to the chargesheet.
At the time of interrogation, the Bulgarian, who has refused to cooperate with the police, claimed that the scope of his fraud was limited to '10 lakh, but probe into his stay at India has revealed otherwise. At current estimate, he is expected to have spent at least '40 lakh over his several trips to India since 2013.
Where'd the money go?
Breaking down in numbers, between September 16, 2016 and May 2017, he visited the IOSIS Spa and Wellness at least 64 times and spent '2.44 lakh, sources said.
Apart from this, he spent '26 lakh towards payment of rent for a plush home in Andheri. He also got dental treatment at super specialty Seven Hills Hospital, accumulating a bill of '8.56 lakh.
He also splurged on branded clothes and footwear that were seized at the time of arrest. In his home, specifically the bathroom, the police also found 235 blank ATM cards, a laptop, three cellphones and other accompanying gadgetry. They also recovered '69,000 in cash.
The investigators have recorded the statements of his landlord, executives from the hospital, spa, the corporator, and included it in the chargesheet, source added.
Angelo is still in judicial custody. The police is still awaiting FSL reports on the forensic analysis of his gadgets to learn more about his illegal activities and a supplementary chargesheet will be filed later.
