Mumbai: The Central Region Cyber Police Station has arrested three individuals from Thane District for allegedly defrauding a 73-year-old man of ₹3.81 crore under the pretext of offering high returns on stock market investments. The arrested individuals have been identified as Satish Suryanath Yadav (27), Vikas Ramshankar Maurya (27), and Sachin Krishnanand Chaurasia (23).
According to police, upon receiving the victim’s complaint, the cyber helpline team (1930), with support from the bank, managed to freeze ₹15.29 lakh from the fraudulent transactions. Officer Mausami Patil from the Central Cyber Police Station revealed that Satish Yadav had established a shell company named Shield Associates, where the stolen funds were deposited. Yadav opened the account with help from his accomplice, Vikas Maurya, who rented these accounts to cyber fraudsters for commissions. The third accused, Chaurasia, provided the SIM card used to create the fraudulent bank account.
Police stated that the scammers lured the victim into investing in the stock market with promises of exorbitant profits. Trusting their false assurances, the victim transferred ₹3.81 crore to their accounts. When the promised returns stopped and he attempted to withdraw the principal amount, the victim realized he had been scammed and filed a complaint.
During the investigation, cyber police traced the fraudulent transactions to a specific bank account. This led to the arrest of the accused individuals responsible for facilitating the scam. Police also disclosed that the main accused, Rahul Ladhi, passed away seven months ago.
The case remains under investigation as authorities work to uncover additional details and recover the remaining stolen funds. Cyber police have urged the public to remain cautious of investment scams and report suspicious activities to the cyber helpline.
