On July 13, 2023, the Bhopal police recovered the bodies of a couple in their forties and two minors, who were claimed to have committed suicide due to financial fraud. The last selfie of the family went viral on social media following the incident. Almost after a month of the dreadful incident, the police arrested as many as five accused involved in the fraudulent act.
Those who committed suicide were identified as Bhupendra Vishwakarma (38), his wife Ritu (35) and their two children, Rituraj (3) and Rishiraj (9). Bhupendra joined a part-time job that promised high incentives, however, Bhupendra became a victim of online theft and fraud.
During the investigations, police found that Rs 95,700 were transferred from the Bank of Baroda account of insurance agent Bhupendra Vishwakarma, who committed suicide, to an account at Yes Bank in Bhopal. On this basis, the police made the arrest. Five people, including the account holder and an employee of Yes Bank, got a commission of Rs 1.80 lakh from the victim. The police is now on the lookout for the accused who gave this commission.
All the arrested accused have been identified as Shariq Baig (25), Mohammad Ubez Khan (27), Arshad Baig (29), Shah Jahan alias Shaji Khan (31) and Farhan Rehman (30), all residents of Bhopal.
How the plan was executed?
The police solved the case in 38 days and this is how the police theory claims the role of the accused arrested;
Amount transferred to the account of Shariq’s firm, Amyra Traders
Bhopal cyber police investigation revealed that money was transferred from Bhupendra’s Bank of Baroda account to Amyra Traders’ account in Yes Bank’s Hamidia Road branch. A sum of Rs 95,700 were transferred to this account. Shariq is the proprietor of Amyra Traders. When Shariq was interrogated in custody, the names of four more accused came to the fore.
Shaji asks Shariq to open the account
During the police interrogation, Shariq revealed that Shaji is his acquaintance. He said that he is connected to a group on Telegram where people are earning lakhs of rupees by investing in online businesses. To join this group it is necessary to have a current account. Shariq agreed to open an account in the name of his firm on the advice of Shaji.
Ubez got the banker Farhan to identify Shaji
Ubez is Shaji’s friend. It was Ubez who introduced Shaji to Yes Bank employee Farhan. Farhan fraudulently conducted a Field Investigation (FI) before opening the account in the name of Amyra Firm. When the investigation was done, only tables were kept at Shariq’s shop. There was a poster outside. Shariq was not even present during the investigation. Even after this, Farhan, a bank employee, made a positive FI regarding the amount of about 10 thousand rupees. With this, the account was opened at Yes Bank.
Arshad had withdrawn the amount from the account
Arshad Baig is a relative of accused Shariq. Both are also friends. Arshad had withdrawn the amount from Bhupendra’s account to Shariq’s current account. He had arranged the banner and table put up in Amyra Traders’ shop before the FI. Shaji was the mediator in this forgery. He used to keep in touch with the accused on the Telegram group. Used to convey his guidelines to other accused.
Why the family committed suicide?
On July 13, the police recovered the dead bodies of the family members, the children were given poison, whereas the couple hanged themselves. Bhupendra lived in Bhopal’s Rathibarh area in Shiv Vihar colony.
A few months back he received a message on Whatsapp regarding online part-time work. He was in need of money, hence he started working, and the work drained all his savings by luring him for a larger amount. They also hacked his laptop and shared their morphed pictures on social media. The recovery agents were threatening the victim of sharing their nudes on social media. The company allegedly accessed his bank accounts as well.
As per Narendra Vishwakarma, Bhupendra’s elder brother told the media that, Bhupendra and Ritu first gave poison (celphos) with a cold drink and after making sure the children are dead, they hanged themselves.
The suicide note written by Bhuprendra was accessed by Organiser, it says;
Everyone is worried because of my mistake….
I don’t understand what to do and what not to do, I don’t know whose evil eye caught our small and lovely family. We would like to apologize to our family members with folded hands. Everyone associated with me is very upset, all because of a mistake I made.
We were living happily with our family, but in the month of April, I got a WhatsApp message on my phone regarding an online job. Then the same offer was made on Telegram. In order to get some extra money, I agreed to work. The work did not require much time, so I started.
Initially, I got a little benefit, but gradually started sinking into a quagmire. I was engaged in two different work, to balance things out, even if I get a little time, I used to do that online work, but the workload was so much that I used to spend money on this. I had no time to calculate my spending.
After being a victim of an online job scam, I thought, I should try another way out and then, I will clear all the loans and leave all this as soon as I get the money. The people doing online jobs made me so much in debt that, even I myself was surprised. I understood, that I have been cheated.
Read more about the case here in this report by Organiser.
We will update this story will further update in this case. As of now, the Bhopal police has sent a team to Delhi for further investigations. One of the accused involved in this case is yet to be nabbed.
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