Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The crime branch arrested the fifth accused of an interstate gang with Dubai connection involved in defrauding people under the guise of investment in the forex market, an official said on Sunday. Four members of the gang have already been arrested from different states. The accused had duped a businessman of Rs 4.85 crores by promising a quadruple profit.
The fifth accused acted as a middleman, transferring the defrauded money to gang leaders and police nabbed him from Gujarat with the help of technical surveillance. Additional DCP (crime) Rajesh Dandotiya said that the fifth accused, Hiren Patel, a resident of Bharuch (Gujarat), who is an MBA graduate has been arrested.
Earlier, the Crime Branch had arrested Aryan Gupta of Nagpur, Mohammed Faiz of Raipur, Mohammed Amir of Nagpur and Sohel Khan of Surat, Gujarat. The victim, a city businessman, lodged a complaint stating that an unknown person added him to a WhatsApp group and showcased fake profits from forex market investments. The gang member convinced the victim to try investing a small amount. Through a link shared on WhatsApp, the victim was instructed to download a software called MStock Max, designed for forex investments.
The software showed a profit of Rs 40,000 on an initial investment of Rs 10,000, which made the victim trust the gang member. The accused then encouraged the victim to invest a larger amount to earn higher profits. Trusting them, the victim transferred Rs 4.85 crores to the bank accounts provided by the gang. The software falsely showed a profit of Rs 16 crores, but when the victim attempted to withdraw the amount, the process failed.
Accused living 250 km away from home after changing identity
During investigation, the police reached Gujarat when they got to know that the accused Hiren Patel was living in Anand district which is 250 km away from his home after changing his identity to Narendra Patel.
Money transferred to Dubai
Hiren provided fake bank accounts to the gang leaders and facilitated the transfer of fraudulent funds. He allegedly confessed that the gang operated nationwide, showcasing fake profits from online trading to dupe victims. Hiren transferred Rs 50 lakhs to Manav Enterprises, a shell company. Out of this, Rs 30 lakhs were sent directly to the gang leader Rubel in Dubai, while Rs 20 lakhs were routed through another account to Dubai. Rubel might be a native of Punjab as he has an account based in Punjab state.
Rs 75 lakhs returned to victim
The crime branch has so far recovered Rs 75 lakhs of the defrauded amount and returned it to the victim . Additionally, Rs 70 lakhs have been frozen across multiple bank accounts and will soon be returned to the victim after court proceedings.
