Faridabad, Oct 7, 2026 (PTI) Police arrested two more accused, including the mastermind of an interstate gang, who committed a cyber fraud of over Rs 5 lakh by sending a malicious APK file to Adani Gas customers under the pretext of bill payment, officials said on Wednesday.
Five gang members were arrested by police earlier and have already been sent to jail, they said.
Police said they recovered data belonging to approximately 20,000 Adani Gas consumers and 1,000 UCO Bank customers from the accused, who had also sent APK files to 116 individuals. Police also seized six mobile phones, SIM cards, credit cards, and other electronic devices used in the fraud from the accused.
According to police, an elderly resident of Sector-37 filed a complaint on September 1 and said he received a message on his mobile phone asking him to pay his Adani Gas bill. The message warned him that his gas connection would be disconnected if he didn’t pay the bill on time, and it also provided a mobile number, he said. When he contacted the number provided in the message, the cyber fraudsters sent him an APK file, and asked him to open the link. After this, the fraudsters used the file to compromise his mobile phone and siphoned off Rs 5,12,334 from his account, he said.
Police registered an FIR at the Cyber Central Police Station, Faridabad, and arrested five accused in the case. They were identified as Ashwin Bhai, Khunt Dhaval, Manish Bhai, Deep Vitthalbhai, and Pithabhai Bhaya Bhai, residents of Surat, Gujarat, police said.
While investigating, police arrested two more accused, identified as gang mastermind Deepak Kumar Mandal, a resident of Giridih district, Jharkhand, and Anil Kumar Mandal, a resident of Deoghar, Jharkhand, police said.
“Both the accused are on four days of police remand. During interrogation, they revealed that the ringleader of the gang, Deepak Kumar Mandal, purchased data belonging to citizens, specifically related to the RTO and Adani Gas and APK files via Telegram.
“Victims were called and intimidated based on this data, and were induced to download APK files. Once the file was downloaded, Deepak gained full access to the phone. Deepak used the proceeds from the fraud to pay off outstanding credit card bills. We are questioning the accused,” Inspector Basant Kumar, SHO of Cyber Police Station (Central), Faridabad, said.
An APK file (Android Package Kit) is the standard file format the Android operating system uses to distribute and install mobile applications. Cyber criminals use APK files to dupe people. PTI COR ASD
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