The Pimpri Chinchwad cyber police have arrested three individuals involved in a massive online share trading fraud, which resulted in a Rs60.3 lakh loss for a 60-year-old trader from Sangvi. Among those arrested was Avinash Baklikar, a final-year homeopathy student (26) from Nilang in Latur district, who was reportedly the “India head” of the fraudulent operation.
Baklikar, who had been in contact with handlers based in China and Nepal, was tasked with recruiting mule account holders to receive funds from the victims of the fraud. He was allegedly paid Rs2 lakh per mule account, in the form of cryptocurrency. The fraud scheme promised victims substantial returns on share trading investments, but ultimately led to financial losses.
The other two suspects arrested in connection with the fraud are Adab Shaikh (26) of Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, and Satish More (35) of Ratnagiri, Maharashtra. According to the police, Shaikh had been dispatched from Uttar Pradesh to oversee Baklikar’s operations, while More assisted in recruiting mule account holders for the scheme.
The scam came to light when the victim, a trader from Sangvi, lodged a complaint on October 12, stating that he had been duped out of Rs60.3 lakh after being promised a 30% profit on his investments in the stock market. Upon investigating the bank accounts used to receive the fraudulent funds, police discovered that a delivery person from Wagholi had been involved. The delivery person revealed that Baklikar and More had operated his account for the fraud.
Following a tip-off, police tracked the suspects to Lonavla, where they were arrested from a villa after checking over 1,000 properties in the area. Authorities seized Rs1.35 lakh in cash, along with 12 cellphones, a laptop, and nine bank passbook kits during the arrests. The suspects had also brought in mule account holders from Kachchh (Gujarat), Parbhani, and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar to meet at the villa. The police took their statements before allowing them to leave.
Baklikar, who had failed his homeopathy exams, allegedly got involved with a person linked to share trading fraud. Over time, he took over the operations and began recruiting mule account holders across India. Police revealed that Baklikar had coordinated with fraudsters in Nepal and China, even traveling to Kathmandu to meet his handlers.
Meanwhile, Satish More, who was involved in the sale of POS (Point of Sale) machines, played a key role in locating mule account holders for the scam.
The police are continuing their investigation, and Senior Police Inspector Ravikiran Nale stated that they have traced 55 mule accounts through Baklikar’s cellphone. Investigations revealed at least 150 complaints against these accounts, and over Rs2 crore in fraudulent transactions were processed through them.