The Meerut Police have arrested three cyber criminals from Punjab for their involvement in a major online fraud that defrauded a retired professor and his wife of more than Rs 3 crore. The fraud was carried out through a fake share market app called “Natwarlal,” and the criminals siphoned off funds from the victims’ accounts between September 26 and October 23, 2024, amounting to Rs 3.10 crore.
According to Avnish Kumar, SP (Crime), the victim, AK Agarwal, a retired professor from Roorkee Engineering College, resides in Ganganagar, Meerut. The professor and his wife were lured by a woman named Anaya Sharma and a man identified as Ritesh Jain, who reached out to the professor via WhatsApp calls and messages. They convinced him to invest in share trading by promising large profits. Initially, the professor opened a High Net Worth Investment (HNI) account with Brandywine Global Company and invested Rs 50,000 on September 26, 2024.
However, things quickly escalated when, on October 10, a staggering Rs 1.73 crore was transferred from the professor’s account in 22 separate transactions. The scammers promised that shares of Hyundai Motor India Limited would be allotted to him. As the fraud continued, by October 22, Rs 9.52 lakh was frozen in his account, with the criminals claiming that the shares could not be sold until October 31. It was only then that the professor realized he had been scammed.
Upon the professor’s complaint, a case was filed with the cyber police station, and investigations were launched. Tracing the suspects’ location to Punjab and Haryana, the police were able to arrest three individuals — Ikram (32) from Ludhiana, Sahil Ali (29) from Ludhiana, and Jasvir Kumar (40) from Kapurthala. Further inquiry revealed that this gang had been involved in similar fraud schemes, with 20 other similar complaints registered across various states.
The arrested individuals are now in police custody, and the investigation is ongoing to uncover the full extent of their criminal activities. Authorities are hopeful of recovering the defrauded amounts and preventing further scams of this nature.
