The Pune Cyber Police on Monday revealed the busting of a large online share trading fraud racket, resulting in the arrest of six individuals, including a bank director and a technical officer, both BTech graduates. The suspects are linked to a Hingoli-based multi-state cooperative bank, with branches in Hingoli and Kharadi.
The arrests took place between March 27 and April 5, this year. The investigation is ongoing to verify the number of accounts involved and whether these accounts were used as “mule accounts” to facilitate money transfers. Senior Inspector Swapnali Shinde from Pune Cyber Police stated that the fraudulent activities targeted bank account holders, with the suspects convincing them to allow their accounts to be used for money transactions in exchange for commission.
The main suspects, Govind Sanjay Suryavanshi (22), the bank director, and Rohit Sushil Kambhoj (32), the technical officer, also ran three digital marketing companies and were involved in cryptocurrency dealings. One of the arrested suspects, Nikhil alias Kishor Satav, would invest the commission money in cryptocurrencies, which were later transferred to handlers in Dubai.
Police have identified that the frauds were executed using 100 to 150 accounts from the cooperative bank and other financial institutions. The suspects are believed to have been involved in 29 share trading frauds across multiple states. The breakthrough in the investigation occurred after a senior citizen from Erandwane lost Rs 1.60 crore in a share trading scam in March.
The investigation revealed a series of fraudulent activities involving cheque withdrawals from mule accounts. Further questioning of suspects led the police to identify their connections with individuals in Gujarat and West Bengal. As part of the ongoing investigation, police have also arrested other suspects, including Ketan Umesh Bhiware, Babarao alias Omkar Bhawar, and Jabbarsingh Arjunsingh Purohit, with others in judicial custody.
The investigation is set to continue as authorities track further links to the cryptocurrency transactions and their movement across international borders.
