Pimpri-Chinchwad Cyber Police Arrest Pune-Based Businessman In ₹2.24 Crore Share Trading Fraud

Pimpri-Chinchwad: A person involved in share trading who was defrauded of ₹2.24 Crore has been caught by the Pimpri-Chinchwad Police, officials announced on Tuesday. He used to lure people with the promise of huge profits in share trading. The accused owns a business in the Pune city area. The action was taken by the Cyber Police Station of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Police Commissionerate (PCPC).

The arrested businessman has been identified as Santosh Sadashiv Rupnar (47, resident of Manjari Budruk, Pune). A case was registered against him at the Cyber Police Station earlier this month after a local resident filed a complaint. He has been booked under the relevant sections of the BNS and the IT Act of 2000.

Details of the Fraud

Police said that the complainant, a share trader, was added to a WhatsApp group by a person who introduced himself as Rajiv Bhatia. The admins of this group were Deepak Nair, Rajiv Bhatia, and one other unknown individual. Following that, the complainant was also added to a second group which included people whose names were Gaurav Mishra, Pavitra Varma, and Yashwant Rao.

According to the complaint, both groups provided information related to the buying and selling of shares and the stock market. Individuals identifying themselves as Pavitra Varma, Rohan Shah, and Mia Wilson Shah guaranteed a good profit of 10 to 15% if the complainant invested in specific stocks.

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DCP (Crime) Dr Shivaji Pawar said, "The accused instructed the complainant to download an application. To initially gain the complainant's trust, they showed a huge profit on a small investment made by the complainant. They even credited the amount to the complainant's bank account. This built the complainant's confidence. Based on this trust, the complainant invested a large sum of ₹2.24 Crore.The application displayed a total principal and profit amount of up to ₹10 crore."

"However, when the complainant tried to withdraw the invested money, the accused started demanding various 'charges'. This made the complainant suspect foul play, and they immediately approached the Cyber Police Station," said DCP Pawar.

Investigation and Arrest

A case was registered with Cyber Police, and during the investigation of the crime, it was revealed that ₹1 crore and 5 lakh of the defrauded amount was deposited into an Axis Bank account. This bank account was under the name of Jan Seva Industries Limited and was found to belong to Santosh Sadashiv Rupnar.

PSI Prakash Katkade and his team conducted a technical analysis and, with the help of the Pune Police, traced and apprehended Santosh Rupnar. After the accused confessed to the crime, he was arrested for his active involvement.

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The investigation also revealed that the Axis Bank account used in the crime had a total transaction amount of ₹3.53 Crore. A total of 12 fraud complaints from various states across the country have been registered against this bank account. Sr PI (in charge of Cyber Police Station) Ravikiran Nale is investigating the case.

The Team Involved

The operation was carried out under the guidance of Pimpri-Chinchwad Commissioner of Police Vinoy Kumar Choubey, JCP Dr Shashikant Mahavarkar, Addl CP Sarang Awhad, DCP Dr Shivaji Pawar, and ACP (Crime 1) Vishal Hire.

The team that executed the operation included Sr PI Ravikiran Nale, API Pravin Swami, PSIs Vaibhav Patil, Sagar Poman, Rohit Dolas, Prakash Katkade, Vidya Patil, and Police Constables Deepak Bhosle, Vinayak Mhaskar, Hemant Kharat, Jyoti Sale, Atul Lokhande, Madhav Arote, Sopan Bodhvad, Santosh Sapkal, and Dipali Chavan.