New Delhi, Jun 12 (IANS): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said on Monday that it has arrested a suspect in its ongoing investigation into a case related to fraudulent withdrawal of EPFO claims through identity theft.

The accused has been identified as Priyanshu Kumar.

According to a senior CBI officer, a case was registered on February 8, 2022 against seven establishments and other unidentified individuals based on a complaint filed by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).

The complaint alleged fraudulent activities involving identity theft, which aimed to illegally withdraw funds from the PF accounts of genuine beneficiaries.

The accused utilised a particular method to target individuals whose Aadhaar cards were not linked to their PF accounts. The fraudsters obtained an Aadhaar card with an identical name, date of birth, and gender by submitting forged documents to update an existing Aadhaar card.

These fraudsters registered the altered Aadhaar card with fictitious establishments and linked it to the respective establishments. They then fraudulently withdrew PF funds by filing multiple online claims on behalf of the genuine PF members.

Searches were conducted at eight premises belonging to the accused and others located in Bihar, Jharkhand and Delhi. These searches resulted in the recovery of various incriminating documents, mobile phones, ATM cards, cheque books, and passbooks.

Kumar was produced before a Special CBI Court, which remanded him to four-day CBI custody.