Int’l racket: Police raid shop, recover QR codes, cheques

Siliguri: Following the incident where ATM cards and other bank-related documents were recovered from three houses in the Chathat area under Phansidewa Block in a raid by Phansidewa police; senior police officials on Friday raided another shop in the same area.

The shop belongs to Md. Shahidul, the prime accused in the earlier case. Police recovered hundreds of chequebooks, QR codes, mobile phones and hard disks from the shop. Abhishek Roy, Additional Superintendent of Darjeeling District Police (Kurseong division), Saikat Bhadra, the Circle Inspector, and Iftikar Hossain, the Officer In Charge (OC) of Phansidewa Police station, led the raid. On May 27, Phansidewa police raided three houses in Chathat area and recovered more than 500 ATM cards, bank account documents and Aadhaar card numbers. A man named Anil Gope was arrested on the spot.

Police suspected that an international racket of forgery was going on using these documents. Abhishek Roy, Additional SP said: “There are more people involved in this racket. They used to transfer money from people’s accounts, especially those living in rural areas to another account using their Aadhaar card numbers, bank passbooks, ATM cards and other documents. The prime accused is still absconding, and we have continued a search for him.” Police also suspected that the accused and other people involved in the case had been transferring money for IPL betting and gambling in different areas of India and abroad. A probe is underway.