4 held as Muz cops bust ₹8-cr cyberfraud racket
Upon investigating the matter, police found that the suspects were operating under the cover of a fictitious NGO and had carried out fraudulent transactions running into crores.
Muzaffarpur cyber DSP Himanshu Kumar said, "The arrested people have been identified as Abhishek Pandey from Amethi, Uttar Pradesh, and Krishna Kumar Singh and Vikram Kumar Singh from Madhubani, Bihar. The police recovered several incriminating items from the suspects, including bank passbooks, chequebooks, cellphones and documents related to the fake NGO.
Further interrogation revealed that the gang operated a bank account using forged documents to facilitate their cyber fraud activities.
A transaction of Rs 8.33 crore was discovered in the account."
A special investigation team led by senior officers was constituted to probe the case further. Acting on the information provided by the arrested trio, the team conducted a raid in the Mushahari police station area, which led to the arrest of another suspect, Guddu Kumar.
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Police recovered several items from his possession, including cellphones, laptops, biometric devices and fake Aadhaar card receipts.
"Guddu confessed to his involvement in creating fake Aadhaar cards and participating in various cyber fraud activities," the DSP added. "The investigation also uncovered over 20 cyber fraud complaints linked to the suspects' mobile numbers and bank accounts across different states," he said.
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Economic Times
23 minutes ago
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Nod for blanket ban on online money games
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'GST revenues from online gaming surged by 412% in just six months to Rs 6,909 crore, and TDS collections crossed Rs 1,080 crore in FY24,' he said. E-sports, social gaming On the other hand, the bill has clearly defined online social games and e-sports. Online social games are those which 'don't involve staking of money, or other stakes, or participation with the expectation of winning in return of money or other stakes and is offered solely for entertainment, recreation, or skill-development purposes,' according to the bill. E-sports are those involving 'organised competitive events between individuals or teams, conducted in multiplayer formats governed by predefined rules' and are recognised by the national Olympic and Paralympic committees.'For both these categories, it has encouraged the development of indigenous technologies, responsible game design, and the use of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and AR/VR (artificial reality, virtual reality). 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Time of India
34 minutes ago
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Nod for blanket ban on online money games
The cabinet has approved a bill to ban online money gaming due to addiction and financial losses. The bill proposes penalties for violations and impacts companies like Dream11. It aims to curb cybercrime and money laundering. The government will promote e-sports and social gaming. The bill defines these categories and encourages indigenous technology. It will be presented in Parliament soon. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads The cabinet approved legislation that will impose a blanket ban on online games with a monetary component, noting they lead to suicides due to financial losses besides addiction among children and the legislation, which proposes imprisonment and penalties for violations, brings the hammer down on online money gaming, irrespective of whether based on skill, chance or of the Rs 27,438 crore online money gaming sector said they were shocked and feared the prospect of being shut down. 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It may be referred to a select parliamentary bill seeks to promote the burgeoning discipline of e-sports in line with global trends, along with gamification and the animation, visual effects, gaming and comics (AVGC) sector. It also proposes to create a national authority to regulate the overall gaming industry.'The government has no issues with online gaming. The issue is only with online money gaming,' said an official. The government recognises that 'India could become the gaming capital of the world' and legitimate games without any money aspect will be promoted, the official said. 'The industry was playing on the grey area that existed between games of skill and chance. If betting and gambling is not allowed in the physical world, how can it be permitted in the online space.'The Centre has listened to industry voices over several occasions, the official said, countering the contention that feedback from companies was not heard before the bill went to cost to society was taken into account.'Yes, thousands of jobs may be lost, but the future of lakhs of people will be saved,' the official bill says online money games have led to socioeconomic and psychological consequences, posing a risk to public welfare. It seeks to bar such games from online portals and general user participation besides curbing endorsements by celebrities and to a joint report by WinZO Games and the Interactive Entertainment and Innovation Council, the sector has received Rs 25,896 crore, or $3 billion, in foreign direct investment. India's estimated 591 million gamers account for a fifth of the global gaming population, with 11.2 billion mobile game downloads annually.'The bill is extremely problematic, prime facie unconstitutional and not sustainable in law,' said Jay Sayta, technology and gaming lawyer. ''Betting and gambling' as well as 'amusements and entertainments' are squarely state subjects and parliament has no legislative competence to enact laws on the subject, except under Article 252 of the constitution where two or more state legislatures expressly pass a resolution and allow parliament to enact a law on the subject.'Kazim Rizvi, Founding Director of public policy think-tank The Dialogue, pointed out the fiscal importance of the sector. 'GST revenues from online gaming surged by 412% in just six months to Rs 6,909 crore, and TDS collections crossed Rs 1,080 crore in FY24,' he the other hand, the bill has clearly defined online social games and e-sports. Online social games are those which 'don't involve staking of money, or other stakes, or participation with the expectation of winning in return of money or other stakes and is offered solely for entertainment, recreation, or skill-development purposes,' according to the bill. E-sports are those involving 'organised competitive events between individuals or teams, conducted in multiplayer formats governed by predefined rules' and are recognised by the national Olympic and Paralympic committees.'For both these categories, it has encouraged the development of indigenous technologies, responsible game design, and the use of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and AR/VR (artificial reality, virtual reality). The move will see India become a global hub for creative and cutting-edge digital gaming content, the bill says.'The law reportedly seeks to criminalise all online money games that don't qualify as e-sports or online social games. This could inadvertently cover well-recognised protected formats,' said Arun Prabhu, partner and co-head, digital and TMT at law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. He explained that the distinction is based on whether money is staked and winnings are bill reportedly also proposes a new blocking mechanism, expanding the scope of this beyond the existing IT Act's Section 69A.'Whether these widely worded restrictions and powers will be enacted in their current form, or survive judicial scrutiny, remains uncertain,' Prabhu gaming platforms had hoped for a favourable judgment by the Supreme Court in a case concerning the applicability of goods and services tax (GST) on online games as part of a Rs 2.5 lakh crore dispute. One of the largest tax cases in India's legal history, it centres on the interpretation of Rule 31A of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) rules. This mandates 28% GST on the face value of bets. Last week, the top court reserved its judgment on the the government has argued the bill is necessary since judicial interpretations on the matter have been inconsistent, resulting in legal uncertainty and enforcement paralysis. The need for a national regulator arose due to the challenges in cross-border and inter-state operations considering the 'regulatory grey zone' in which the sector has operated so meetings on the bill took place on Tuesday among officials from MeitY and the Prime Minister's Office, sources said. MeitY had earlier implemented a framework for online gaming through amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, cabinet's approval of the online gaming bill is a decisive step that finally separates e-sports and social games from wagering-led money gaming, said Rajan Navani, founder and CEO, JetSynthesys.'The government's intent to promote esports and social video gaming while prohibiting online betting and curbing its advertising is clearly to protect the Indian consumer,' he said.

News18
an hour ago
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Hyderabad: Domalguda Police arrest two drug peddlers, seize 18 kg of Ganja
Domalguda (Telangana) [India], August 20 (ANI): The Domalguda Police apprehended two persons, on Tuesday named Komal Sominath Pvar and Sahil Mahesh Salunke, who were moving in suspicious circumstances with two travel bags in front of Suraj Tours and Travels, Ambedkar Colony, near Liberty T Junction, informed an official statement from Deputy Commissioner of Police, Central Zone, Hyderabad. The accused were found to be in illegal possession of a Narcotic Substance, that is, 18 kg of Dry Ganja, as per the official statement. The accused, Komal Sominath, 23, is from Aurangabad, Maharashtra, and Sahil Mahesh Salunke, aged 18, is also from Aurangabad, police seized 18 kg of Ganja, valued at Rs 4,50,000/-, along with two cell the accused persons had reportedly arrived in Hyderabad from Vijayawada to transit by bus to Aurangabad from the vicinity of Liberty 'T' Junction, intending to sell the contraband at higher prices to potential arrest and the seizure of narcotic substances were carried out, and further investigation is underway to apprehend the absconding accused and trace the supply chain.



