Pune Crime Files: How raid on plush villa unearthed cyber crime links based in Nepal, China

Trail leads to Lonavala via Wagholi

The Cyber Crime police station of Pimpri Chinchwad police — set up in September 2024 — was probing a Rs 61 lakh share trading fraud in which a resident of Sangvi had been targeted earlier that year. He had been added to a WhatsApp group and lured into investing through a fraudulent app. As investigators began tracing the money trail, they found that a significant portion had been routed to the bank account of a Wagholi-based delivery worker. His questioning revealed that the account had been opened at the behest of unknown handlers, who retained full control of his bank account kit. Acting on technical leads, the trail eventually pointed the investigators towards the Lonavala area.

An extensive combing operation was conducted across villas and bungalows in Lonavala. Police later found out that the suspects were using fake Aadhar and other documents to rent these villas and were changing their base from one villa to another to avoid getting caught. Finally, a search of a villa in Gold Valley led to the arrest of three suspects who had registered as guests and were operating a cyber crime racket. The team arrested Avinash Baklikar alias Com King (26), a native of Latur and a final year medical student, Adab Shaikh alias Maddy (26), a native of Ghaziabad and a Commerce graduate working for online marketing firm and Satish More (35), a native of Ratnagiri working as a sales executive for a private sector bank.

‘Operated like corporate firm’

Investigation established that Avinash Baklikar had opened mule accounts at various locations in the name of locals and had shared the details of these accounts with cyber criminals based in Nepal and China.

“The operation was being executed in a planned manner like a corporate firm. Racketeers were getting incentives for good work, there were people keeping checks and reporting to higher ups — exactly like a corporate company. This syndicate had given them aliases to operate with anonymity. The investigation revealed that international cyber criminals were holding meetings at Kathmandu in Nepal which were attended by Baklikar from time to time. It came to light that Baklikar was charging specific amounts for handing over access of each mule account to international operatives. He was also helping convert the siphoned amount into Tether cryptocurrency also known as USDT.” said an officer who was part of the probe.

Investigators found out that accused Adab had been in touch with the operatives in Nepal and China and had been sent to Lonavala, particularly to oversee and keep a check on what Baklikar had been doing. And More played a role in bringing mule account holders to Baklikar. Police further arrested half a dozen more accused in the case and a trial against them is currently pending before the court, officials said.

“This was the first case in which a Cyber investigation in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad had established a direct communication link and had come with evidence that physical meetings had taken place between the international operatives and Cyber criminals working from them within India.” said another officer who was part of the probe. The probe of the case which was closely monitored by Pimpri Chinchwad police Commissioner Vinoy Kumar Choubey was conducted by a team comprising of Inspector Ravikiran Nale, Assistant Inspector Praveen S.