The Fourth Judicial Magistrate Court in Coimbatore on Monday awarded six years of imprisonment to a New Delhi native, whom the Coimbatore district (rural) cybercrime police arrested in a courier scam in January this year.
Coimbatore District Superintendent of Police K. Karthikeyan said the person involved in the scam, Gopi Kumar, 42, was convicted by the court in 55 days after his arrest, with the cybercrime police lodged chargesheet and the court conducted the trial in a swift manner.
Fourth Judicial Magistrate S. Arunkumar also slapped a fine of ₹1.5 lakh on him.
Kumar, who had been running two companies in New Delhi, was arrested by the cybercrime police from his native on January 22 based on a complaint lodged by a woman from Sulur. The petitioner had received a call from an unknown person, who impersonated an employee of a courier firm, on November 18 last year. The stranger told her that a parcel booked using her credentials contained drugs and illegal items.
The stranger made the woman make a video call with persons, who impersonated cybercrime officials from Mumbai. The fraudsters made her transfer ₹10 lakh to the impersonators, who assured her that the sum would be repaid after verification.
She approached the cybercrime police on November 25 and an investigation was launched. The police, through a court order, froze the bank account used by fraudsters, which had ₹9.91 lakh of defrauded sum. A team led by inspector A. Chithradevi arrested Kumar from New Delhi. The investigation was completed at a rapid pace and the police submitted the chargesheet on February 10.
The police said Kumar’s bank accounts were involved in 11 similar cheating cases reported in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Delhi, Karnataka and Kerala, in which victims lost a total of ₹29.14 lakh.
Published – March 17, 2025 06:19 pm IST
