The cyber cell of Sikkim police recently arrested five persons from Titagarh in North 24-Parganas district of Bengal on charges of duping a woman from the Himalayan state of Rs 4.96 lakh by fraudulently proclaiming her as the winner of an online lucky draw.

Amit Shaw, Sujit Singh, Md. Shahnawaz, Binay Kumar Gupta and Dipak Das were arrested last month and taken to Sikkim where they were produced in the court of the chief judicial magistrate in Gangtok. They have been charged under various sections of the IPC and IT Act for cheating and impersonation, among others, and are presently in police custody.

Tenzing Loden Lepcha, the superintendent of police, CID, Sikkim police, told reporters in Gangtok on Friday that a six-member team, with the help of their counterparts in Barrackpore Commissionerate, had made the arrest. “First, four of them were arrested and subsequently, the fifth arrest was made,” he said.

Lepcha hinted at the possibility of more arrests being made in the case since the five appeared to be members of very well organised larger gang of 15-20 people. “We got to know a lot of powerful people were also involved because cash is involved and you are part of a gang that can earn so much of money. Obviously, you would be able to give money to people who matter at your locality,” he said.

The SP said the victim had been approached by the fraudsters and told that she had won a lottery. She was then asked to pay a certain amount as GST and make purchases worth Rs 5,000 in the link that was sent to her to claim the prize. Thereafter, she was asked to make more payments on one pretext or the other and eventually, ended up paying Rs 4.96 lakh to the fraudsters.