Noida: Four arrested in Nainital Bank’s server hack case

Two men were arrested on Monday for hacking the sever of Nainital Bank’s branch in Noida Sector 62 and siphoning off ₹16.71 crore in 84 transactions between June 16 and June 20, 2024, police said. The arrested accused were identified as Umealakei Emeka, aka Alex, 53, a Nigerian national who lives in a high-rise in Sigma 4 in Beta 2, Greater Noida, and Savej aka Sanu, 26, a resident of Ghaziabad.

The total number of people arrested in the case is now seven.

“When we were monitoring the 84 bank accounts where money was transferred, we found that six bank accounts were active, and money was withdrawn from those accounts. When we traced the account, we arrested Savej, who revealed that he worked for Emeka for 4%of the profit,” said Vivek Ranjan Rai, cybercrime branch, assistant commissioner of police.

Police said that Emeka is a drug peddler, and 56.34 grams of methylenedioxy-N-methamphetamine (MDMA) worth ₹20 lakh was recovered from his possession.

“When we raided Emeka’s house, we found two Delhi-based men there who had come to procure MDMA. We arrested the two, identified as Amit Gupta, 28, and Deepak Gupta, 39, both residents of Sangam Vihar in Delhi. Emeka moved to India in 2003 and married a Manipur-based woman in 2007. He has three children with her. Emeka, along with other Nigerian nationals, hacked the server of Nainital Bank and siphoned off money to the 84 accounts. Most of the accounts were on rent, while others were on fake identities,” the ACP said, adding that transactions of ₹1.40 crore were traced to Emeka.

The hack was discovered on June 17 last year when Nainital Bank officials, during routine reconciliation of accounts, found a difference of ₹3 crore. Initially suspecting a technical error, the bank officials decided to wait for 24 hours. But on June 18, when a similar issue popped up and a difference of ₹2 crore was found, the matter was escalated on June 19 and reported to police by IT manager of the branch, Sumit Kumar Shrivastava, police said.

Based on the complaint, a case under sections 420 (cheating and dishonesty) of the Indian Penal Code and 66C (fraudulently or dishonestly making use of the electronic signature) of the IT Act was registered on July 10.

Police arrested three accused: Harsh Bansal, 29, and his brother Shubham Bansal, both residents of Dadri in Greater Noida, and Kuldeep Kumar, 39, a resident of Ghaziabad. Police later added sections 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 120B (criminal conspiracy), and 201 (disappearance of evidence) of IPC to the case.

Police said they have frozen ₹3.80 crore out of ₹16.71 crore, and efforts are underway to recover more. “ ₹50,000 cash, eight checkbooks, seven bank passbooks, seven mobile phones, one laptop, two internet modems, nine mobile SIM cards, three debit cards, two passports, a DL, and 39.58 grams of MDMA were recovered from Emeka’s possession. A mobile phone was recovered from Savej, and 8.08 and 8.68 grams of MDMA were recovered from Deepak and Amit’s possession,” said Ram Badan Singh, Noida DCP, adding that the NDPS Act was added against Emeka and two other suspects.