Punjab: Mastermind behind fake mining dept website held

Chandigarh : Punjab Police’s state cyber crime division on Monday arrested the prime accused behind a fake website of the mining department.

Gaurav Kumar of Kharar in SAS Nagar had created the exact replica of the original official website of the mining department to generate counterfeit receipts and forms for facilitating the movement of vehicles involved in illegal mining, said Punjab director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav.

The investigation began following a complaint by chief engineer of the mining department, who reported that the official website had been compromised. The accused had created an exact replica of the official website ‘minesgeologypunjab.gov.in’, operating it under the domain ‘minesgeologypunjab.in’ from November 2024 to January 2025. This fraudulent site issued counterfeit mining slips embedded with Bar/QR codes, enabling vehicles involved in illegal mining to pass security checks without detection.

The initial investigation revealed that the accused in connivance with a person from Ferozepur generated over 2,000 fake mining receipts causing an estimated loss of around ₹40-50 lakh to the state exchequer, the DGP added.

The fraudulent website was registered and hosted on GoDaddy, a US-based domain provider. Through coordinated efforts with GoDaddy’s legal authorities and various internet service providers, the cybercrime officials traced the website’s creation to Gaurav Kumar. Subsequent raids led to his arrest and another accomplice has been identified, with efforts underway to apprehend him.

During the operation, authorities recovered critical digital evidence, including backups of the fake website, databases of fake receipts, images of vehicles used in illegal mining and details of mining material sources and destinations. The records indicate that many of the fake mining forms generated were associated with Navyug firm based in Ludhiana.

A case has been registered under Sections 318(4), 336(3) and 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with Sections 66C, 66D, and 66 of the IT Act, at the state cyber crime police station.