Acting on a tip-off by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Jharkhand Police, a team of Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Tuesday took at least 22 people under custody in connection with cyber crime and selling lottery tickets, police sources said on Tuesday.

While there was no official communication on the development from the ATS by the time this report was filed, sources in Ranchi police said that the first raid was conducted at a rented accommodation on Devi Mandap Road under Pandra Outpost on Tuesday early morning. The In-Charge of Pandra Outpost confirmed that the raids were conducted; however, he refused to share any information on the detentions. “The raids were carried out in the morning. But the ATS has not shared details of the operation with us,” said In-Charge of Pandra Outpost, requesting anonymity.

A man in his mid twenties, whose identity was not disclosed by the time this report was filed, was taken into custody from the rented accommodation on Devi Mandap Road for his alleged involvement in running a racket of cyber criminals in Ranchi, police sources said. More detentions were made later on the basis of information provided by him during interrogation, they added.

Sources said that the raids were carried out on the directions of Additional Director General (ADG), CID, Anurag Gupta. He, however, said that details about the raids will be disclosed once all the suspects in the case are nabbed. 

Earlier on July 2, the police here busted another racket of cyber criminals, who allegedly used a smart phone App to dupe people using banking services on their phones. Jharkhand is home to Jamtara, which is infamous for breeding cyber criminals involved in duping people through phishing.