The South Region Cyber Police have arrested a 40-year-old man from New Delhi for his alleged role in a Rs 2.21 crore fraud case involving a 72-year-old share trader from South Mumbai. The arrested accused has been identified as Umashankar Agarwal, who had provided his bank accounts to the main accused involved in the scam.
According to police officials, the high-profile cyber fraud began last year when the victim was contacted by the accused, who claimed to be government Provident Fund (PF) officers. They informed the senior citizen that his late father’s pending PF amount of Rs1.68 lakh could be released after paying a processing fee of Rs30,000.
Initially, the victim who resides in Nana Chowk, South Mumbai received a call from a woman identifying herself as Ritika Sharma, promising to help recover the pending PF amount. Believing her claim, he transferred Rs30,000 as the initial processing charge. However, the fraudsters continued to contact him over the next several months, citing various official reasons and demanding more payments.
Over the span of a year from April 2024 to April 2025, the victim made as many as 48 separate transactions, transferring a total of Rs2.21 crore to the fraudsters in hopes of recovering the small PF sum. An FIR was registered on April 18, 2025, following the revelation of the fraud.
Investigations revealed that Umashankar Agarwal had rented out four of his bank accounts to the main accused, identified as Rajesh Sharma, who remains absconding. The defrauded money was routed through these accounts. Agarwal was reportedly promised a 2% commission per transaction for allowing the use of his accounts.
Police officials stated that Agarwal had opened the accounts at Sharma’s behest, after which Sharma took control of the bank kits linked to those accounts.
The South Region Cyber Police are now on the lookout for the main accused Rajesh Sharma and other individuals suspected to be part of the fraudulent network.