Prince nabbed via 'Habibi', gang leader behind CBI impersonation scam arrested in Kochi

KOCHI: City Police scored a major victory by arresting the mastermind behind a notorious gang that impersonated CBI officials and executed fraudulent "virtual arrests." The gang, originally based in Delhi, had been conducting operations as far as Russia. The leader, Prince Prakash (24), a medical student in Russia and a native of Jharkhand, was arrested after an 11-day manhunt led by Central SI Anoop C. Chacko. This arrest follows months of investigation into the high-profile case of a Kochi hotel owner who was cheated out of Rs 30 lakh in March.

Prakash, known among fraudsters as "Fayez," was nabbed after key clues were provided by Muhammad Shahid, a Malappuram native who had been arrested earlier in the investigation. Shahid, who referred to Prince as "Habibi," played a crucial role in leading the police to the ringleader. So far, 15 individuals have been arrested in connection with the case, although none of the earlier suspects had direct links to the scam and were misled into believing they were part of a cryptocurrency transaction.

Prince Prakash is also involved in a fraud case in Chennai, and multiple investigative agencies are now preparing to take him into custody for further questioning. The scam, which involved threatening victims via video calls by falsely accusing them of money laundering, led the hotel owner to file a complaint when the fraud was uncovered. The team involved ASI EM Shaji and CPOs Shihab and Unnikrishnan.