The Navi Mumbai Crime Branch has busted a 12-member gang allegedly involved in large-scale cyber fraud. The accused purportedly operated an illegal online gaming platform and cheated multiple people through it. During the investigation, the police also discovered that around 393 complaints were registered against the accused on National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCCRP). They also found out that the accused used around 886 bank accounts in cybercrime.

During the probe, the police’s cybercrime branch found that the one of the suspects, 22-year-old Isan Usmani Minhaj Sheikh, who is a resident of Sai Niwas Society in Nerul’s Sector 18E, provided multiple bank accounts to the main operators for running the illegal gaming network. Sheikh was arrested from CBD Belapur Railway Station in Navi Mumbai.

Speaking on the probe, a cybercrime branch officer said, “During the investigation, we found that Sheikh and the other accused collected bank kits, including passbooks, ATM cards, SIM cards, and cheque books, from citizens by promising them returns in “government-approved” gaming platforms. These bank accounts were then sent to an address in Runaval Garden at Dombivli, where the police later conducted a raid with technical experts and witnesses.”

In this matter, CBD Belapur Police have registered a first information report (FIR) under the relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology Act, the Maharashtra Gambling Act, and the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025.

Source