11 held for duping 60-yr-old man of Rs 8.5 lakh in investment fraud

“Some of the arrested accused provided their own bank accounts, while others purchased bank accounts from others by paying money. So far, the gang has provided nearly 150 accounts to cyber criminals, earning crores in commissions,” an officer added.

The accused were identified as  Gautam Gopal Das, Srinivasan Raju Rao, Omkar Yuvraj Thorat, Shrikant Balasaheb Salunkhe, Ojas Chaudhary, Akash Atmaram Dusane, Dinesh Hiraman Tayde, Mohammad Rajik Sadiq Patel, Sagar Dhiraj Kolhe, Harshal Prakash More and Amit Uttam Mitkar.

The 60-year-old man from South Mumbai was lured into downloading a fake app, through which he was told to invest in the stock market promising high returns, police said.

The South Mumbai resident transferred Rs 8.56 lakh through the app between July 15 and 25, 2024.

“After the case was registered, we analysed the bank accounts in which the money was deposited, following which the suspects were identified as Das and Rao. They were subsequently arrested on December 12,” an investigator said.

Subsequently, the probe revealed the roles of nine other accused, who were then arrested from Satara, Pune, Bhusawal, and Goa.

The police have seized five laptops, 16 mobile phones, a Jaguar, and a Mahindra Mazzaro car from the arrested accused.

“We have also learned that Dusane, Tayde, and Patel traveled to Cambodia and Nepal to meet the masterminds of the scam. They earned commissions in crores with which they have bought expensive cars and houses,” an officer said.