Jaipur, (UNI) Thirty-eight operatives of an interstate criminal gang, arrested under “Operation Shutterdown” for defrauding funds from government welfare schemes, were produced before the trial court in Jhalawar on Thursday.
A police spokesman confirmed that the accused are charged with embezzling funds from various Central and Rajasthan Government welfare schemes, including the PM Kisan Samman Yojna and social security pension initiatives, by transferring money to bank accounts of ineligible or fictitious beneficiaries.
The trial court remanded nine of the accused in police custody until November 3, 2025, while the remaining 29 were sent to jail under judicial custody for 15 days.
The accused allegedly created unauthorised duplicate user IDs or hacked the official IDs of more than 1,200 officers across the country. They then transferred scheme benefits into approximately three to four lakh bank accounts, most of which belonged to ineligible or fictitious beneficiaries. The gang is also accused of hacking many inactive accounts for use in dubious transactions.
The police spokesman indicated that due to the large number of accused, bank accounts, and officials’ IDs spread across multiple states, the scope of the probe may be broadened.
High officials of the Special Operation Group (SOG) have arrived in Jhalawar to supervise the ongoing investigations. The spokesman also suggested that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) may be formed. The nine accused currently in police custody are being interrogated in multiple sessions by police and other probe agencies.
Rajasthan: 38 arrested interstate fraud operatives produced in Jhalawar court
