Patna, Dec 24 (IANS): The police in Nawada district on Friday arrested 17 cyber criminals from the Warisaliganj block.

Confirming the development, district Superintendent of Police, D.S. Savlaram, said that the kingpin of the gang happens to be the newly-elected mukhiya of a village panchayat that falls under the Warisaliganj block.

"We have been receiving complaints about cyber crime cases from several districts in Bihar and other states of the country. On Friday, we received a tip-off about a gang that was active in Chakway village under Warisaliganj police station. Accordingly, we conducted a raid and arrested 17 persons," Savlaram said.

"We have also seized Rs 1,35,716 in cash, nine bank passbooks, 10 mobile phones, five ATM cards, an Aadhaar card, a cheque book and large number of forged documents of various companies," Savlaram said.

"During brief interrogation, the accused confessed to the crime. They have also revealed the name of the kingpin, who is a newly elected a mukhiya of a panchayat under the Warisaliganj block," she added.

The accused were involved in cyber crime for many years and earned huge amount of money through forgery. They used to send random links to individual persons and later duped them after hacking their mobile phones, the officer said.

"A hunt is on to nab the remaining accused," she added.