Mumbai police also arrest Tamil Nadu man who provided SIM cards for abusive calls to borrowers of loan apps
Nitin Malik ran two shell companies as per Odisha cops
Expanding their investigation into the loan app scam, the city cops have taken the custody of 3 men arrested by a special investigation team of Odisha police. The trio has been identified as Nitin Malik, Sushant and Rachit. Mumbai cyber cops have also nabbed a man from Tamil Nadu who allegedly supplied SIM cards for recovery agents, taking the number of people arrested by them to 15.
ADVERTISEMENT
The police said Malik was arrested by the economic offences wing of Odisha police on July 2, while the other two had been taken into custody on June 10. Authorities in Maharashtra got cracking after a series of reports by mid-day shone the spotlight on the illegal loan apps that tricked customers with micro-loans but extorted huge sums from them by abusing and blackmailing them. A few of the borrowers were also driven to end their lives, reported mid-day.
Maha Cyber, a nodal agency, and Mumbai police launched parallel probes and made arrests. As part of their probe, two teams from Mumbai police had reached out to their Odisha peers and took custody of the three men arrested by them.
“Nitin Malik who had floated 2 shell companies named Good Start Businesses Pvt. Ltd. and Right Start Business Pvt. Ltd. It was suspected by agencies that, ‘Kredit Gold Loan app’ used account floated by these shell companies [sic],” the Odisha police had said.
Sushant and Rakhit, directors of Mudmate Technologies Pvt. Ltd. and Yellow Tune Technologies Pvt. Ltd., ran shell companies and allegedly facilitated lending and recovery of loans for illegal digital loan apps like KOKO and JOJO, said officers.
“We are committed to joining investigation with our counterparts from across the country in eradicating this menace. Mumbai police, who are investigating a similar case, approached us claiming the 3 accused arrested by us also reflect in their probe. The due process of law was followed and the trio was taken on transition remand,” said JN Pankaj, DIG EOW, Odisha.
Sources in Mumbai police identified their latest catch as Prince Sharon of Tamil Nadu. They said Sharon provided SIM cards to Mumbai-based fraudsters involved in the loan scam. He is believed to have sent over 100 SIM cards to Mumbai that were used to make abusive calls to borrowers.
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
