The North Region Cyber Cell police have busted a gang involved in cheating people by luring them into share market investments with promises of high returns. Three accused have been arrested in the case. The arrested persons have been identified as Vilas Genu More alias Rehan Khan, Rizwan Shaukatali Khan, and Kasim Rizwan Sheikh. With their arrest, police have successfully solved three similar cyber fraud cases, in which the total amount cheated exceeds ₹3 crore, officials said.
According to police, the complainant Akash (20) is a resident of Kandivali, and is currently pursuing his final year of studies in the finance stream. His father runs a business. Akash has a keen interest in share market investments and had already invested in stocks earlier.
On October 17, while at home, Akash was added to a WhatsApp group named “100 DBS Group – Stock Market Navigation”, which had 258 members. A person identifying himself as Rajat Sharma was providing guidance on share market investments in the group, advising members on which stocks would yield good returns.
After observing the group for a few days, Akash verified the investment tips on his personal share trading platform and found the information appearing to be genuine. He also noticed that several group members were seemingly earning good profits. Convinced, he decided to invest through the group. A woman named Meena Bhatt sent him a link, through which he invested money in various shares.
Initially, Akash received attractive returns, and some amounts were even credited to his bank account. Encouraged by this, he informed his parents, uncle, and friends, and persuaded them to invest as well. They transferred money to him for investment purposes. Between November 4 and December 2, Akash invested a total of ₹23,14,100 in different shares. On the app, it was shown that he had made a profit of ₹80 lakh. However, when he attempted to withdraw the amount, the transaction failed.
Upon inquiry, Meena Bhatt advised him to pay service charges and taxes to enable the withdrawal. Even after depositing additional amounts, Akash did not receive any money. Instead, he was repeatedly asked to deposit more funds. Realising that he had been cheated, Akash contacted the cyber helpline number 1930 and also lodged a complaint with the North Region Cyber Cell.
Following the complaint, police registered a case under cheating and relevant IT Act sections and began an investigation. During the probe, it was found that the defrauded money had been transferred to multiple bank accounts. After tracing the accounts and account holders, police detained and arrested Vilas More, Rizwan Khan, and Kasim Sheikh.
Interrogation revealed that the accused were in contact with other cyber fraudsters and had opened multiple bank accounts for them. Crores of rupees were deposited into these accounts, which were later transferred to the cyber criminals. In return, the accused received commissions for facilitating the transactions.
With their arrest, police have cracked three cyber fraud cases, and investigations have revealed that more than ₹3 crore was cheated in these cases. A major portion of the amount was routed through the bank accounts of the arrested accused. Further investigation is underway.