Wanted conman Ajay arrested after years, police from 13 states had to form a WhatsApp group to track the elusive hacker turned robber

Kurapati Ajay had been committing duping people for years by faking his ID.
Conman Kurapati Ajay (Image via Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate)

In a major success, the Bengal Police arrested a wanted conman, Kurapati Ajay alias Ajay K, who had been duping people for years, from Kerala on Sunday (26th October). Ajay K, a native of Bengaluru, is a trained ethical hacker. He had been evading the police of 13 states since 2021 and did not even attend the funeral of his mother to avoid being caught.

He was finally nabbed following an extensive manhunt, followed by a successful coordination between the Police departments of multiple states on a WhatsApp group.

As per reports, Ajay K used to meet and befriend people in hotels and dormitories across the country by changing his name. He used to don different identities and forge Aadhaar cards to avoid detection by law enforcement authorities. After befriending his victims, he used to steal their valuable possessions like mobiles, laptops, cards and cash. That’s how he had been funding his lavish lifestyle, said the police. “He was so elusive that police from multiple states had formed a WhatsApp group to coordinate and track his movements,” a police officer was quoted as saying. Ajay K had multiple FIRs lodged against him in different states. Police seized multiple Aadhaar cards, SIM cards, and digital devices in his possession.

As per reports, the arrest of the 32-year-old conman came during the investigation by the Bidhannagar Police of a case filed on 29th July. In this case, the complainant, Vinay Kumar, accused Ajay K of stealing his phone, wallet, and laptop from a guesthouse, where they were both staying. He alleged that Ajay K used his credit cards to purchase gold worth ₹5 lakh and withdrew cash using his debit card to buy a phone. The complainant accused Ajay K of duping him of a total of ₹50 lakh. When the Bidhannagar Police started searching for a similar modus operandi that had been used in other theft cases in the country, they came across a similar pattern of stealing devices like mobile phones, laptops and wallets in multiple other cases, which led the police to Ajay K. “We started to search to find out if a similar modus operandi had been used by anyone else in the country. To our surprise, we found that a similar crime pattern had been reported in many large cities,” said deputy commissioner (detective department) of the Bidhannagar police, Sonawane Kuldip.

According to police, he was arrested twice in 2023 in Bangkok and Gangtok. He was released after securing bail. He used to constantly change his names and use different identities such as a pilot, an IT professional or an investment banker. “He would mandatorily steal his target’s mobile phone along with the (credit or debit) cards so he could access the phone when an OTP was generated while making an online purchase,” said Sonawane Kuldip Suresh.

The police said that sometimes he used to courier the stolen devices back to their owners after using them. “He was a master of self-reinvention. After each theft, he discarded his SIM and Aadhaar cards. He used multiple phones, recycled the same fake name for several SIMs, and stole others’ phones just to generate OTPs for fraudulent transactions. He booked flights and hotel rooms online using false identities, making direct pursuit nearly impossible,” a police officer reportedly said.

Investigation revealed that the conman had bought 15 high-end iPhones worth around Rs 15 lakh and was in possession of as many as 38 SIM cards. He will be brought on transit remand to Kolkata.

Written by OpIndia Staff
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