Cryptocurrency: Ex-IPS Officer And Cyber Expert Arrested For Stealing Bitcoin During Investigation, Cheating Pune Police

Cryptocurrency: Ex-IPS Officer And Cyber Expert Arrested For Stealing Bitcoin During Investigation, Cheating Pune Police
Share this News:

Siddhi Dharmadhikari

Pune, 12th March 2022: Pune Cyber Police have arrested two cyber experts from Pune and seized a large number of mobiles, Mac Books, Hard-Disks, tabs, laptops, CDs, and other items from them. They are accused of stealing Bitcoins while assisting the police in the investigation.

The arrested accused are Pankaj Prakash Ghode (38), resident of Tadiwala Road, Pune, and Ravindranath Prabhakar Patil (45), resident of Bibwewadi, Pune. Both the accused have been remanded in police custody till March 19. Patil had taken voluntary retirement and began working as a cyber expert.

According to the information given by police, from Ghode, Pune Cyber Police retrieved 3 mobiles, 2 Mac Books, 3 hard-disks, 2 tabs, 2 laptops, 4 CD’s, 6 pen-drives, 2 memory cards, 3 smartwatches, 21 ATM Cards, 1 pen-drive card, 2 identity cards, 7 visiting cards, 2 chequebooks, 2 passbooks, 1 iPad, 1 SIM card, 2 passports, 1 charger, WDC company documents and investigation help letter, 8 diaries, 1 notepad sheet, and one router were seized.

From Patil, police have seized 4 laptops, 12 mobiles, 11 pen-drives, A-4 size paper, 1 iPad, 2 tabs, 1 hotspot device, 2 internet routers, 1 internet dongle, 6 hard-disks, 9 different colored diaries, 4 DVDs, 3 CDs, Treasure wallet, memory card, along with 1 computer set were seized.

The crime took place online from April 2018 till date.

According to a press release, Ghode and Patil were assisting the Pune Cyber Police as technical experts in investigating the cases registered in 2018 at Dattawadi Police Station and Nigdi Police Station. Many people were cheated under the pretext of cryptocurrency offers in both cases. At that time, both the accused falsely used the data handed over to them by the Investigation Officers and the police and used that for their financial gain. Both the accused added fake reports in the technical report and cheated the government and the investors with the cryptocurrency worth crores of rupees. A total of 17 persons were arrested while police had seized 241 Bitcoins, 452 Bitcoin cash and 94.254124 Ether in the two cases.

Several important items have has been seized from both the accused since the case was registered against them.

The investigation is being carried out under the guidance of Police Commissioner Amitabh Gupta, Joint Commissioner Dr Ravindra Shisve, Additional Commissioner Ramnath Pokale, DCP (Cyber&EOW) Bhagyashree Navtake, ACP Vijaykumar Palsule, and Senior Inspector of Police DS Hake.

The team includes Police Inspector Ankush Chintaman, Minal Supe-Patil and police personnel Rajurkar, Assistant Police Inspector Walke and 27 police officers and Directorate Of Forensic Science Laboratories Officer Tejas Katte, Tanuja Suryarao, Rahul Kanoj, and Gaikwad.

After the arrest of both, the accused were presented in the court of Special District Judge SS Gosavi. Police had demanded 10 days of police custody of the accused for a thorough investigation. Public Prosecutor Maruti Wadekar made a strong argument in this regard. The court ordered that both the accused be kept in police custody for 7 days, i.e., until March 19, 2022.

Join Punekar News Whatsapp GroupTelegramInstagram And Twitter  For Regular Update about Pune City And Pimpri-Chinchwad