Noida. Varun Tyagi, the mastermind and a puzzle who was involved in breaking into the FD of 200 crores of Noida Authority in the name of increasing the interest rate, was arrested by Noida Crime Branch and Sector 58 Police Station from his house in Mansarovar Park, Delhi on Friday.
He had committed the fraud in connivance with the nine accused arrested earlier. Nine accused involved in the gang have already been arrested. Information was collected by extracting all the numbers of Tyagi from their mobiles. Police reached the accused by identifying them through photos.
Two fake FDs of Rs 100 crore each were prepared
According to the police, Sudhir, who was a part of the gang, had provided Varun with blank FD papers from Bank of India, Ghaziabad Duhai. Varun had prepared two fake FDs of Rs 100 crore each. Varun used to visit the Authority due to his interior and construction work. Therefore, Varun went to the Bank of India branch in Noida Sector 62 posing as an authority employee with an offer to get an FD.
Five accused including accused Abdul Khader arrested
After this, he met the Noida Authority officials posing as a bank employee with an offer to get a higher interest rate. After starting the process with the bank and the authority, Rs 3.90 crore was transferred from HDFC Bank in Sector 18. After that, the bank became suspicious when Rs 9 crore was transferred. When the fraud was exposed, the Chief Finance and Accounts Officer of the bank had registered a case in Sector 58 police station. The police arrested five accused including Abdul Khader, the accused seen in the CCTV and who withdrew the money.
One more suspect seen in the CCTV of the authority
In the police investigation, one more suspect was seen in the CCTV of the bank and the authority, but no concrete information was available about him other than Tyagi. Even when the mastermind of the gang Manu Bhola, arrested from Delhi in September 2024, was caught, only the name Tyagi could be found from him and his mobile.
He was absconding for two and a half years
It was found that Gaurav Sharma, who was arrested in October 2024, had friendship with Tyagi. When information was collected from 20-25 mobile numbers, links started getting connected. DCP Crime Gautam Budh Nagar Shakti Mohan Awasthi said that the accused was absconding for about two and a half years. The accused was arrested and sent to jail. The team is searching for other absconding accused.
Ten arrested, two are being searched
Noida Police has tightened the noose around Abdul Khader, Rajesh Pandey, Sudhir Murari, Rajesh Babu, Manu Bhola, Tridib Das, Rahul Mishra alias Gaurav Sharma, Ajay Kumar Patel in FD fraud. Now the tenth accused Varun Kumar Tyagi has been arrested by the police. Devang and Umesh, who are still associated with the case, are still out of the reach of the police.
This is the whole incident
21 June 2023: Noida Authority wrote a letter to the bank and corresponded with it to deposit Rs 200 crore.
23 June 2023: After opening the account in the bank, the Authority received a mail and physical letter.
26 June 2023: Money was transferred from HDFC Bank of Sector 18 and Indian Bank of Sector 62 to Bank of India.
27 June 2023: The Authority found two fake FDs of Rs 100 crore each, but did not suspect anything.
28 June 2023: Documents were sent to the Central Accounts of the Authority.
30 June 2023: It happened after the Central Accounts Department suspected it, but there was a holiday for two more days.
03 July 2023: While corresponding with the bank, a call came about withdrawal of Rs 9 crore. During contact with the bank, it was found that Rs 3.90 crore was withdrawn on June 30.
04 July 2023: Chief Finance and Accounts Officer of Bank of India Manoj Kumar Singh filed a case against branch officer and employee, Abdul Khadar and other unknown persons.
July 2023: Five accused including Abdul Khadar, who withdrew the money, were arrested.
June 2024: NBW issued against the absconding mastermind.
August 2024: A reward of Rs 25,000 was announced on the mastermind.
