Meerut: Police on Sunday arrested three men — Pradeep Kumar, Sonu and Monty — in connection with several cases of ATM fraud. 17 ATM cards of different public and private sector banks were recovered from them.Soon after being arrested, the gang’s kingpin, Pradeep Kumar, a resident of Badaut in Baghpat district, made an emotional appeal to cops and said that he had used the money to get his two sisters married.“Pradeep is a notorious fraudster who has served a jail term in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli and also in Rajasthan. He was wanted in more than 50 cases of ATM fraud in UP, Rajasthan, Delhi and Haryana,” Meerut SP (city) Ranvijay Singh said.Explaining their modus operandi, police said that the gang would offer help to illiterate customers at ATM booths and would replace their original card with a duplicate one. They would later use the original card to make withdrawals.During interrogation, it was revealed that Pradeep had amassed wealth to the tune of lakhs and spent most of it on his sisters’ wedding expenses. “Pradeep has been conning customers at ATM booths for the past five years. Sometime back, he roped in two aides and started running a full-fledged gang. During interrogation, he claimed that he made enough money to meet the expenses for his sisters’ weddings and pay medical bills of his children who were born with health complications,” the SP said.An FIR under IPC sections 420 (fraud) and 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) has been registered against the trio at Lisari Gate police station. Cops are now contacting police in adjoining districts and other states to trace the gang’s entire criminal record.

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