Mastermind Mandal lived a king's life in remote Jamtara

New Delhi: In Jharkhand's Jamtara district, Ram Kumar Mandal – the kingpin of the online racket – had practically turned his area into a fortress, thanks to support from local residents.

Delhi Police investigators said that the accused was living a king's life in the remote village of the district, inside a a house built over 2,000.

Investigators told Millennium Post that one person would stand guard outside the house, and if any suspicious vehicle was seen passing by, the guard would inform Mandal, who would immediately flee the spot and run towards the nearby jungle.

Cops said that Mandal also used a fancy phone, shaped like a fidget spinner, which he could easily hide.

"The numbers of his associates were saved with only alphabets, such as AMMM or ABBB," said an investigator.

Mandal was known by most locals in the village as 'Master', with many villagers having saved his mobile number with the same name.

DCP (Shahdara) Nupur Prasad stating that he had trained over 200 villagers in cheat people by taking their OTP.

"Some houses even have a call centre, from where calls were made in different states. A paper with contents of what to tell the unsuspecting account holders was given to the associates, and they would read the details from that paper to allure the victims," said the senior police official.

She added that some of Mandal's associates even used to change their voice and speak as female executives to lure possible targets. Mandal even used to provide fake e-wallets to the villagers to facilitate the cheating.

After reaching Mandal's village, the Cyber Cell team of Shahdara police – led by Sub-Inspectors Rohtash and Devendra Chahar – had to walk for over 50 km, fearing that the accused would be alerted if any suspicious vehicle was seen.

"Police personnel went to four districts in Jharkhand and travelled more than 1,100 kilometres to nab him," said Prasad.

One of the investigating officers claimed that more than 10 different police teams of other states visited the area, but none were able to catch the accused, as he used to be promptly alerted to their arrival. Cops are now investigating whether the accused had also duping a Bollywood actor.

A senior police officer said that accused first learned how to recharge mobile phone numbers from other bank accounts and soon learnt how to operate e-wallets.

Police claimed that Mandal had every luxury in his 2,000-acre house, including generators and ACs. Cops were shocked to see his luxurious house in such a remote village.

"If the accused or his associates used to book any item online, they used to take the delivery on the road, so that no one can know the actual address," said a police officer.