Punjab Police’s Cyber Crime Division Arrests Mastermind Behind Fake Mining Department Website
- Punjab Police Committed to Making Punjab a Safe and Secure State as Directed by CM Bhagwant Mann
- Accused Created Fake Website to Generate Forged Mining Receipts, Causing Huge Loss to State Exchequer: DGP Gaurav Yadav
- One More Accused Identified, Police Teams on Manhunt to Nab Him: ADGP Cybercrime V Neeraja
Chandigarh, March 3:
In a significant crackdown on cybercrime, the Punjab Police’s State Cyber Crime Division has arrested the main culprit behind a fake website that impersonated the official website of the Punjab Government’s Mining Department. This fraudulent website was used to generate counterfeit receipts and forms, facilitating illegal mining activities, according to Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav.
The accused, Gaurav Kumar from Kharar in SAS Nagar, created a replica of the Mining Department’s website, ‘minesgeologypunjab.gov.in’, with the domain name ‘minesgeologypunjab.in’. This fake website operated from November 2024 to January 2025.
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DGP Gaurav Yadav stated that the fake slips even included a Bar/QR scanner code similar to the official website, allowing vehicles involved in illegal mining to bypass security checks. The accused, in collaboration with an individual from Ferozepur, generated over 2000 fake mining receipts, resulting in an estimated loss of ₹40-50 lakh to the state exchequer.
The website backup, data containing details of fake receipts, images of vehicles, mining source and destination information, and the computer systems used in the crime have been recovered. Further investigation is ongoing to uncover the entire network involved.
Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Cybercrime Division V Neeraja revealed that the investigation was initiated after the Chief Engineer of the Mining Department filed a complaint about the fake website.
The investigation found that the fake website was registered and hosted on GoDaddy, a US-based domain provider. Cybercrime officials collaborated with GoDaddy’s legal authorities and various Internet Service Providers to trace the website’s creation to Gaurav Kumar.
Police teams, led by DSP Cybercrime Simranjit Singh, obtained information about IP addresses and mobile numbers linked to the accused, leading to raids and the arrest of Gaurav Kumar. The police have also identified another suspect involved in the scam and are conducting raids to apprehend him.
ADGP V Neeraja further disclosed that the recovered records indicate that most of the fake mining forms were generated for Navyug firm based in Ludhiana.
A case has been registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the IT Act at the State Cyber Crime Police Station in Punjab.
