Mastermind who created fake FB accounts of TN police officers nabbed in Rajasthan

A mastermind behind creating fake Facebook accounts of senior police officers of Tamil Nadu to dupe their contacts was arrested along with his accomplice from their hideout in Rajasthan and they have been brought here, a senior official said on Friday. 

After fake facebook accounts of IPS officers including that of Greater Chennai Police Commissioner Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal surfaced, a case was registered on September 15 based on a complaint from a police official.

On the outcome of investigation into the complaint by the cybercrime wing of the Central Crime Branch, Aggarwal said the mastermind Shakeel Khan and his accomplice Raveendhar Kumar were arrested at Bharatpur in Rajasthan from their hideout and the duo were brought here. 

A special team was sent to Rajasthan to apprehend the duo and the police officials camped in the western state for about a week to arrest them, he told reporters here at the commissioner's office.

Khan and his accomplice were behind creating fake Facebook accounts in his name and other officers, the top official said. The other Tamil Nadu officers were Director General of Police rank official, Sunil Kumar, Additional Commissioner Dhinakaran, Inspector General Santosh kumar, Joint Commissioner Balakrishnan, Additional DG, Sandeep Rathore, Aggarwal said.

The modus operandi was to seek monetary help from the contacts of officers by falsely claiming to be police officials and their aim was to dupe them, a police release on the fake FB accounts case said. 

The duo were also accused in similar cases in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka and they subsequently went into hiding, it said, adding police got information about them after questioning two others including a juvenile while probing the case.