Kanpur: Etawah police have arrested four members of an inter-state gang accused of cheating farmers and traders of crores of rupees by luring them with promises of supplying grain, seeds and other agricultural products at discounted rates under the guise of an agro mart.The accused have been identified as Prateek Saxena, Vikas, Akash Batham and Pravesh Kumar.According to police, the accused registered their firm on the IndiaMART portal, a platform used for wholesale trade, and obtained the mobile numbers of traders registered on it. They allegedly contacted prospective customers, finalised deals by offering grain, seeds and other agricultural products at attractive rates, and persuaded them to transfer advance payments to their bank accounts.Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Brijesh Kumar Srivastava said the gang would typically collect nearly half of the agreed amount in advance on the pretext of dispatching the goods. After receiving the money, the accused allegedly stopped communicating with the victims and moved on to target other traders and farmers using the same modus operandi.The SSP said the accused had similarly cheated several people in other states. The gang came under the scanner of the Cyber Cell after multiple online complaints were lodged against its members.Police recovered several documents, SIM cards, firm seals, grain samples, computers, an SUV and 13 mobile phones from the possession of the accused.During the investigation, around 20 bank accounts allegedly linked to the accused came to light and have since been frozen, Srivastava said.Police are now probing the role of other suspected gang members and investigating the wider network associated with the fraud.
