Two Arrested for Mobile Theft and UPI Fraud in Varanasi, 9 Phones Recovered

Varanasi: The Varanasi Police Commissionerate has arrested two accused involved in mobile theft and cyber fraud cases under a special campaign against crime and criminals. The arrests were made by the Adampur Police Station team with assistance from the surveillance and cyber cell units.

According to police officials, the accused were apprehended on April 8, 2026, from the Maheshpur Industrial Area under the jurisdiction of Maduadih. During the operation, police recovered nine mobile phones, most of which were reportedly stolen devices.

The case was registered after a complainant reported that his mobile phone was stolen while he was travelling from his residence in Konia towards Cantt railway area on March 11, 2026. After losing the phone, he obtained a replacement SIM card from a Jio centre in Lucknow. However, he later discovered that the stolen SIM had been fraudulently ported to another telecom operator. Using the SIM, the accused allegedly created a new UPI ID and transferred nearly ₹1.5 lakh from the victim’s bank accounts to multiple accounts before withdrawing the cash.

During interrogation, the accused confessed that they had stolen several smartphones from different locations. They revealed that they would break the phone’s lock or remove the SIM card to access linked bank accounts. In many cases, they reset UPI passwords or created new UPI IDs to transfer money. If the phone could not be unlocked, they used the SIM in another device and ported it to another network to keep it active for further fraudulent transactions.

The arrested accused have been identified as Ashish Pal (26) from Chaubepur in Varanasi and Vinod Yadav (40) from Aurai in Bhadohi district. Police have registered the case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology Act. Further investigation is underway to determine their involvement in other similar crimes.