Kanpur: Etawah police have arrested three men, including a father-son duo, for allegedly cheating Bihar-based YouTuber Anshu Kumar of Rs 2.6 lakh by obtaining his Free Fire game ID without paying the agreed amount. Police also recovered illegal firearms and a car allegedly used in the offence.Free Fire, formerly known as Garena Free Fire, is a free-to-play battle royale game available on Android and iOS.Kumar, a resident of Dumraon in Bihar’s Buxar district, lodged a complaint at Civil Lines police station on Oct 15. He alleged that the accused had invited him and two associates to Etawah to purchase the game ID and booked their train tickets to gain their trust.After the trio reached Etawah railway station, they went to a location shared by the accused near a nursery opposite the residence of a Nagar Palika junior engineer. The accused allegedly transferred the game ID to their mobile phones and fled without paying the agreed amount.During the intervening night of Oct 16 and 17, a joint team from Civil Lines and Badhpura police stations was checking suspicious people and vehicles near Thandi Puliya on Lion Safari Road. Acting on information that the suspects were travelling from Udi towards Lion Safari Road in a white Alto car, the police intercepted the vehicle and arrested them.The accused were identified as Opendra Bhadauriya, Devendra and Abhiram, all residents of the Badhpura police station area in Etawah district.Police recovered two .315-bore country-made pistols, one 12-bore country-made gun, four live .315-bore cartridges, two mobile phones, Rs 850 and the Alto car. Investigators said the accused had allegedly committed similar offences in the past and were also involved in selling illegal weapons.A case was registered at Civil Lines police station under provisions relating to cheating and criminal conspiracy. A separate case was registered under Section 3/25 of the Arms Act following the firearm recoveries.Police said Devendra and Opendra Bhadauriya had previously faced cases involving cheating, forged documents and other offences. The Etawah senior superintendent of police announced a reward of Rs 20,000 for the joint police team that carried out the operation.
