An accused cyber fraudster from Jamitira village in the Bhadrak district was taken into custody by Anandapur and Nandipada police on Sunday in a joint operation.
After police obtained information regarding suspected financial activity in an account at Canara Bank in Anandapur, they arrested the offender, named as Atish Panda, the son of a PET teacher from a Gedma school.
Red flags were raised when police discovered that transactions totaling more than Rs 1 crore had occurred via the account in a single month. Separate teams from the Anandapur and Nandipada police stations tracked down and detained the offenders after a thorough investigation.

Officials confiscated a number of goods during the search, including Atish Panda's Aadhaar card, ATM cards, SIM cards, and a bank passbook. To find potential connections to a larger network of cyber fraud, police are conducting additional investigations.
"A cybercriminal was taken into custody by Anandapur police as part of the ongoing 'Cyber Kavach' operation in our district. This comes after a complaint of a Rs 2,000 transaction was made on the NCRB portal. "A huge sum of money was found to have been transferred through that account during verification," Anandapur SDPO Kamal Kumar Panda stated during a press briefing.

After more research, it was discovered that On November 27, 2023, Atish opened a current account at the Canara Bank branch in Anandapur. Over Rs 1.25 crore had been spent using this account by December 16, 2024. According to our first investigation, this money is made up of money that was stolen from victims of cybercrime, the SDPO said.
In accordance with sections 317(2), 318(4), and 336(3) of the BNS as well as sections 66C and 66D of the IT Act, a case (No. 46/24) has been filed at the Anandapur Police Station.
"After arresting Atish Kumar Panda, we confiscated a cell phone, two SIM cards, five Aadhaar cards (that belonged to him and his family), and eleven ATM cards.Every cybercrime creates a digital trail, and we have proof of the accounts from which the funds came and the locations of their transfers. The SDPO declared, "We have information about the second tier of criminals involved and will make an arrest shortly."

The accused has accounts in eight other banks, including Indian Overseas Bank (Ghasipura), Bank of India (Hatadihi), Odisha Gramya Bank (Basantia), UCO Bank (Banta), RBL (Jajpur Road), Bank of Maharashtra (Jajpur Road), Indian Bank, Allahabad Bank, and SBI, even though we have only examined the Canara Bank account, which displays transactions exceeding Rs 1.25 crore. The senior police officer added, "We are looking into whether money from cybercrimes was also sent through these accounts.

"I urge anyone who are looking for quick cash to keep their bank accounts, ATM cards, IDs, passwords, and company IDs private. Since online games involving currency transactions are frequently linked to cybercrime, please prevent kids from playing them. Additionally, you run the risk of falling victim to cybercrime if you answer unknown phone calls, SMS messages, or video conversations, SDPO Panda noted.