Catch me if you can!
Leonardo DiCaprio’s all-time best movie is really gone real. He could be anyone, anywhere. In Bengaluru, he was Ravi Kumar; in Kolkata, he was Sai Krishna. A new city gave him a new name.
Who is Ajay K?
For months, the conman had left a trail of digital fraud and missing wallets across 13 states. On Saturday night, the chase ended in Kerala’s Aluva, where the Bidhannagar Police finally arrested Kurapati Ajay, also known as Ajay K, aged 31. The Karnataka native had been hiding in a guest house when police tracked him down.
Ajay, a Class 12 graduate, had reportedly taken a course in ethical hacking. Despite the fake names and forged IDs, his image had circulated across multiple police databases.
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Before his arrest in Kerala, Ajay had previously been nabbed by police in Gangtok and Bengaluru and conned across 13 states.
Since Ajay used fake identities everywhere, tracking him required high-level technical work. Officers traced nearly 50–60 IMEI numbers, followed digital footprints, and coordinated with police forces across states.
Police also recovered 98 SIM cards from his possession.
How Ajay moved and conned so many
Ajay would first create a fake ID card, often using a forged Aadhaar, and book rooms at hotels or guest houses online. Once inside, he befriended other guests, quietly studying their habits. Then, suddenly disappear with their phones, debit and credit cards, sometimes even laptops. Using those stolen cards, he made online purchases of high-value items smartphones, gold jewellery, and electronics, and later sold them off for cash.
Interestingly, after pulling off the scam, Ajay would courier the stolen phones and cards back to their original owners.
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Last July, using a fake Aadhaar in the name of Sai Krishna, Ajay booked a dormitory bed in an AL Block guest house in Salt Lake, Kolkata. There, he befriended Binay Kumar, a man from Bihar staying in the same room.
On July 29, around 11:30 a.m., Binay went to the bathroom. When he returned, his wallet, mobile phone, and laptop were gone, and of course, Sai Krishna went AWOL. Binay filed a complaint at Bidhannagar South Police Station.
Police discovered that using Binay’s credit card, the accused had purchased around ₹5 lakh worth of gold jewellery from a Kolkata jewellery store, along with seven iPhones and other electronics worth lakhs more. He had also transferred ₹50,000 to another bank account.
After completing his online shopping spree, Ajay couriered back the stolen phone and card to Binay. Later, during interrogation, he reportedly admitted that he later sold the goods online for profit.
“He would first create a fake identity card, use it to get a new SIM card, and then buy a new mobile phone with it,” Bidhannagar’s Detective Chief Kuldeep Sonaone told Ei Samay. “Using the new phone and SIM, he’d create fresh email IDs, book guest houses, and plan his cons. He mostly operated in big cities and picked his victims from these guest houses.”
