The Cyber Cell of the North Region Division has arrested a 25-year-old businessman for allegedly cheating a Malad-based businessman and his wife of nearly ₹21 lakh by sending a fake APK link in the name of an RTO challan. The accused has been identified as Hardik Ashokbhai Borda, a resident of ABC Chowk, Surat, Gujarat.
Police said Borada is accused of providing bank accounts to cyber fraudsters to facilitate online cheating. During the investigation, the involvement of Milan Kaushik Barot, Vishal Jadavani, Bambroliya, Sureshbhai Popatbhai Chauhan, and a few other accused came to light. Efforts are on to trace and arrest the remaining suspects.
The complainant, Bhaven, a Malad resident, is engaged in business with his brother. On December 1, he visited his bank to update his passbook along with that of his wife, Hetal. During this process, he discovered that ₹11,33,880 had been debited from his account, while ₹10,39,326 had been withdrawn from his wife’s account, totalling ₹21,71,782. Finding the transactions suspicious, he immediately alerted the bank manager, who, upon scrutiny, confirmed that multiple unauthorised online transactions had been carried out from both accounts.
Following this, the bank manager advised the couple to approach the police. A complaint was subsequently lodged with the North Cyber Cell. During the probe, police examined Bhaven’s mobile phone and found that on November 17, he had received an APK file from an unknown person. At the time, Bhaven was attending a wedding function in Ahmedabad and had opened the file but did not pay much attention to it. Taking advantage of this, the cyber fraudsters allegedly gained unauthorised access to both his and his wife’s bank accounts and siphoned off the money under the guise of an RTO challan.
After registering a case against unknown persons, the cyber police traced the money trail and found that the cheated amount had been transferred into eight different bank accounts. These accounts were in the names of Milan Kaushik Barot, Vishal Jadavani, Bambroliya and Sureshbhai Popatbhai Chauhan, all residents of Surat. A cyber cell team was accordingly dispatched to Surat for further investigation.
During interrogation, it emerged that a portion of the defrauded amount had been transferred to a joint bank account held by Hardik Borda and Milan Barot. Borda had allegedly opened the account and shared its details with the fraudsters. In return, he reportedly received a 2.5 per cent commission on the amount routed through his account. Police said Borada received ₹3.70 lakh after the fraudulent money was credited to his account.
Based on these findings, Borda was detained from the Kiran Chowk–Nilkanth Plaza area in Surat and later brought to Mumbai, where he was formally arrested. Police have seized one mobile phone and two SIM cards from his possession. Investigators also found that around ₹9 lakh had been credited to Borada’s bank account, which he allegedly disposed of with the help of one Ridhum Dhameliya.
Further investigation is underway to nab the remaining accused and trace the diverted funds.