21-year-old held in Kolkata for duping Chandrapur headmistress of Rs 5.43 lakh online

Chandrapur cyber police have arrested a 21-year-old man from Kolkata in West Bengal. He is accused of withdrawing Rs 5.43 lakh from the account of a 58-year-old headmistress on the pretext of refunding money that an ATM had short-dispensed.

The accused has been identified as Angad Suraj Prajapati (21), a resident of Kolkata, West Bengal. After his police custody ended, he was produced in court today. The court sent him to judicial custody, and he has been lodged in Chandrapur district jail.

The case began on August 30, 2026. That day the headmistress tried to withdraw Rs 5,000 from a bank ATM, but the machine dispensed Rs 900 less. She had lodged a formal complaint with the bank about it.

A few days later she received a call from an unknown number. According to the police, the caller posed as a bank employee and won her trust by asking about the Rs 900 shortfall at the ATM.

A fake APK application was then sent to her on WhatsApp and she was made to download it. She was asked to enter her ATM PIN and CVV details in it. It is alleged that Rs 5.43 lakh was then withdrawn from her account through various online transactions without her knowledge.

A case was registered at the Cyber Police Station, Chandrapur, under crime number 006/2026, under Sections 318(4), 319(2), 61(2) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023, along with Sections 66(C) and 66(D) of the Information Technology Act 2000, and an investigation was begun.

A special investigation team led by Cyber Police Station inspector Sunil Gade carried out the operation under the guidance of Superintendent of Police Ayush Nopani, Additional Superintendent of Police Ishwar Katkade and Sub-Divisional Police Officer Pramod Chaugule.

A team of Assistant Police Inspector Nilesh Giri and police personnel Rahul Ponde, Animesh Bhongale and Pankaj Bawane went to Kolkata. With the help of local police, a search was conducted for four days and nights at a stretch. On the basis of technical analysis, the suspect, Angad Prajapati, was detained and arrested from the Ultadanga police station area.

Assistant Police Inspectors Rajendra Sonawane and Anisa Sayyad, Assistant Sub-Inspector Mujawar Ali, head constables Kartik Khanke and Umesh Rode, constables Gunwant Mundke and Sahil Awari, and women constables Chhaya Shambharkar, Pooja Jambhule, Anjali Ghive and Shrutika Ghait (all of Cyber Police Station, Chandrapur) also took part in the operation.

After the accused was brought to Chandrapur, three days of police custody were obtained. He is being questioned thoroughly in custody, and a search is on for his other associates and the full network behind the crime. The investigation is continuing.

The police have appealed to citizens not to fall for the inducements of any unknown person. They also said people should stay alert because bank officials never ask for confidential information or APK files over the phone.