Meerut police have arrested a 44-year-old man, Prashant KC, from Bengaluru’s Vijayanagar area in a high-stakes cyber fraud case involving Rs3.1 crore. The arrest was made following a complaint by A.K. Agarwal of Ganganagar, Meerut, filed on October 23, 2024.
According to officials, Prashant KC and his associates used a fake stock market app to lure Agarwal and his wife into investing huge sums of money. The victims were approached via WhatsApp calls from unidentified numbers and were promised high returns if they upgraded their investment subscriptions.
The fraud resulted in unauthorized transfers of Rs1.73 crore from Agarwal’s account and Rs1.37 crore from his wife’s account.
A case was registered under Section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Section 66D of the IT Act, and several IPC sections including 338, 336(3), 340(2), and 61(2).
Investigations revealed that Prashant, a former security firm field officer, operated fictitious companies including “HG Enterprises” to open bank accounts for laundering money. His associate, Hanuman Gowda, helped in setting up these accounts.
Meerut SSP Vipin Tada confirmed that Prashant created WhatsApp groups with fake testimonials and screen grabs of fake profits to trap investors. “The scheme was well-planned and carried out over 45 days,” he said, adding that Prashant is linked to 22 similar cyber fraud cases across 9 states as per the NCRP portal.
During interrogation, Prashant admitted to receiving Rs3 lakh as his share, which he claimed to have spent. He has been sent for court proceedings while further investigations continue to track down the remaining gang members and recover the siphoned funds.
