Friday, 25 September 2026

CBI arrests key accused in cyber fraud case targeting U.S. nationals

The Central Bureau of Investigation says the syndicate ran illegal call centres from Gujarat’s Ahmedabad since 2024, defrauding victims of over $7.21 million by posing as U.S. federal agency officers

The Hindu

4 hours ago · 1 min read★ 4.0 trust

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested a key accused in connection with a transnational cyber-enabled financial fraud case involving illegal call centres that targeted U.S. nationals.

The accused has been identified as Ankit Satishchandra Pandey. The agency registered the case against him and others on September 8, following allegations that a syndicate had been running illegal call centres from Gujarat’s Ahmedabad since 2024.

“The accused persons impersonated as officers of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), U.S. Attorney, Critical Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and other federal agencies, falsely informing the victims through VoIP communications that their identities were used by someone to access child pornography through their computer systems,” the agency said.

Thereafter, they allegedly induced the victims to withdraw funds from their bank accounts, purchase gold and hand it over to courier persons engaged by the syndicate in the United States. The agency has so far quantified the defrauded amount as over $7.21 million.

After registering the case, the CBI conducted searches at multiple locations in Ahmedabad and seized electronic and digital evidence before it arrested the main accused on Wednesday (September 23, 2026).

Read the full story at The Hindu.

More stories

Veeramani’s judicial custody extended till Oct. 9 in POCSO Act case

The Gem Granites chairperson was produced before POCSO Special Court Judge S. Padma via video conference from Puzhal prison, citing security concerns

The Hindu·4 hours ago·1 min read

Police arrest three, seize 92.79 kg of ganja in Andhra Pradesh

The Kavali rural police on Friday (September 25, 2026) arrested three persons on charges of smuggling ganja and seized 92.79 kg (42 packets) of ganja, two cars, and two mobile phones. Addressing the media here, Kavali Rural Circle Inspector G. Rajeshwara Rao said that while conducting special surveillance and vehicle checks on NH-16 near the Musunuru toll plaza (Kavali mandal)—specifically at the junction of the cement road leading to Batladinne village—at 7 p.m. on Thursday (September 24), two cars traveling from Ongole toward Nellore spotted the police and attempted to turn back, raising suspicion. The police immediately surrounded and searched the two vehicles. They found 92.79 kg of ganja packed in 42 packets. The three accused were identified as Govindaraj, 32, from Krishnagiri Taluk in Tamil Nadu; Muthyala Santhosh Kumar, 36; and Bangaram Raviraj, 34, from Visakhapatnam. A case has been registered at the Kavali Rural Police Station under Section 8(c) read with 20(b)(ii)(C) of the NDPS Act, and an investigation is under way. Superintendent of Police Dr. Ajitha Vejendla commended the Kavali Rural Police team.

The Hindu·4 hours ago·1 min read

Nazi-seized 1892 painting returned to US heirs after decades

Heilbronner, the widow of a Munich banker, lost the work as a result of racial persecution under the Nazi regime. After the war, its whereabouts remained unclear for decades, leaving the ownership history unresolved. More than eight decades after Nazi persecution tore a painting from the home of Sofie Heilbronner, the 19th-century work has finally returned to her family. Its journey from a Munich warehouse to a Bavarian state collection and, eventually, to Heilbronner’s heirs in the United States reflects the long and painstaking process of tracing art displaced during the Nazi eral, states an online report by Pinakothek website. The restitution was marked by a ceremony at the German Embassy in Washington, DC, on September 22, 2026, attended by descendants of Heilbronner. A painting lost to history Heilbronner, the widow of a Munich banker, lost the work as a result of racial persecution under the Nazi regime. After the war, its whereabouts remained unclear for decades, leaving the ownership history unresolved. The painting, created in 1892, eventually surfaced in the holdings of the Bavarian State Painting Collections. In 2015, the institution published information about the work on the Lost Art database because its provenance raised the possibility that it had been looted or otherwise displaced during the Nazi period. That public record became an important first step toward determining who had originally owned the painting and how it entered the state collection. Records reveal the missing trail A more detailed provenance investigation began in 2020 through the Provenance Research Department of the Bavarian Museum Agency. Researchers reconstructed part of the painting’s wartime journey and established that it had been transported from a warehouse on Munich’s Lazarettstrasse. It was subsequently taken into the state system through what was described at the time as a transfer of state-owned property by the Bavarian State Office of Asset Management and Restitution.As per the report, the investigation helped establish that the painting had been seized from Heilbronner in connection with Nazi persecution rather than entering the state collection through an ordinary purchase or legitimate transfer. Evidence from historic galleries A breakthrough came through records from two prominent Munich art dealers, Galerie Heinemann and Galerie Hugo Helbing.The documents provided crucial evidence linking the 1892 painting to Heilbronner and helped confirm her as its former rightful owner. Such gallery records can be particularly valuable in provenance investigations because they preserve information about sales, consignments and previous owners that may otherwise have disappeared from the historical record.In 2021, the New York State Department of Financial Services Holocaust Claims Processing Office contacted the Bavarian State Painting Collections on behalf of Heilbronner’s heirs after the provenance information and Lost Art listing had been made public. A family connection restored As per the same report, the return closes a decades-long gap in the history of a painting that had been separated from its rightful family during one of the darkest periods of European history. It also demonstrates why provenance research remains essential for museums holding works whose ownership histories intersect with the Nazi era. Piecing together old gallery records, government documents, wartime inventories and museum archives can take years, but each discovery can help resolve ownership questions that have remained unanswered for generations.For Heilbronner’s descendants, the restitution brings a tangible part of their family history back into their hands. For researchers and museums, the case adds another documented chapter to the continuing effort to identify and return art displaced through Nazi persecution.Image Courtesy: Pinakothek website

Times of India·5 hours ago·3 min read