The Madhya Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) has uncovered a large-scale investment fraud totaling approximately Rs 2,283 crore, leading to the arrest of the alleged masterminds, Deepak Sharma and Madan Mohan Kumar, from Delhi.
The scam duped thousands of investors across seven states, including Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, and Assam. The fraud was orchestrated through online trading platforms like BotBro, operated via shell companies Yorker FX and Yorker Capital.
The case surfaced after Indore resident Ishaan Saluja filed a complaint claiming he was promised monthly returns of 6-8% on his investment of Rs 20.18 lakh.
Investigations revealed that the accused collected funds through the accounts of Rainet Technology Pvt Ltd and Kindent Business Solutions Pvt Ltd, converting the money to USD for forex trading via Meta-5 accounts. The STF has frozen around Rs 90 crore from over 20 suspicious bank accounts linked to the scam.
Financial scrutiny showed that Kindent Business Solutions declared a trial balance of Rs 1.10 crore for FY 2023-24, while actual transactions amounted to approximately Rs 7,020 crore during January 2023–December 2024. Similarly, Rainet Technology declared Rs 7.80 crore but transacted nearly Rs 15,800 crore in the same period. Combined, the two companies processed about Rs 22,830 crore through 16 bank accounts, later transferring funds to unidentified accounts.
Neither company was registered with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) or the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), violating financial regulations.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is also investigating the case under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). The fraudulent BotBro website has been taken offline.
The accused have admitted to defrauding investors across multiple states. The investigation is ongoing to track the full extent of the scam and recover lost funds.
