Webwork online scam: Director duo held

Gautam Buddh Nagar Police on Friday arrested Anurag Garg and Sandesh Verma, the two directors of Webwork Trade Private Limited, in connection with the Rs 500 crore online scam. The company is alleged to have committed online fraud by duping over two lakh investors.

Police had already seized the bank accounts and company's office at Noida Sector 2. "The duo perhaps got scared by the police investigation and the FIR

registered against them. So, they came to Surajpur to meet the District Senior Superintendent of Police, Dharmindra Singh. The SSP then called the Noida Sector-20 Police Station SHO Anil Pratap Singh and got the accused arrested," said Dinesh Yadav, Superintendent of Police, Noida.

"The online firm has been accused of cheating many in the name of 'likes'. Anurag Garg and Sudesh Verma are now in police custody. Garg is a graduate of business management and a resident of Nehru Nagar in Meerut. Sudhesh Verma is a resident of Muzaffarnagar. Both the directors were paid Rs 2 lakh per month by the company," added Yadav.

Noida Police had earlier written to the headquarters in Lucknow, demanding permission to inquire about the firm and handover the case to the Special Investigation Team (SIT). As of now, Noida Police have seized four bank accounts of the company, which were owned by both Garg and Verma. On Thursday, the police had frozen three bank accounts of the company worth Rs 26.74 crore.

Soon after the FIR was registered against the company, the company's promoters turned off their cell phones and the office of the company was found closed. Garg had posted a video message on YouTube claiming his business was legal and assured investors that the company will make their payments soon.

Soon after the FIR was registered against the company, its promoters turned off their cell phones and the office of the company was found closed. Garg had posted a video message on YouTube claiming his business was legal and assured investors that the company will make their payments soon.

The police, on Thursday, had trailed Rs 26.74 crore deposited in three bank accounts belonging to the company for allegedly duping thousands of investors. The money was deposited in two banks in Noida and one in Delhi. An amount of Rs 15.09 crore was deposited in Webwork's account with ICICI Bank in Sector 18 of Noida and Rs 1.51 crore was found deposited in the company's account with the Axis Bank in Noida.

"We had frozen the accounts of Webwork in these two banks on Wednesday. We got the details of the funds in the accounts," Dr Gaurav Grover, assistant superintendent of police, Noida, had said.

Amit Kishor Jain, a resident of Ghaziabad, had complained to the police that he was cheated Rs 3.5 lakh by Webwork. The police had lodged an FIR on February 12. The Sector 2 office of the company was sealed on Wednesday by a cyber-crime team of the Noida police.