CEO held for cheating: 5,000 left unemployed as fifth Pune IT firm shuts in 8 months

“While we have arrested the company’s CEO Harshal Thakre, a search is on for the accused who have been identified and probe underway to identify if there are any more people involved in the case,” Pandhare added.

ThynkTech Office is located on the 10th floor of Gera’s Imperial Rise in Hinjewadi Phase 2.

An offence was registered under provisions of criminal breach of trust and cheating of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita based on a complaint filed by a 25-year-old intern of the company ThynkTech India OPC Private Limited, Hinjewadi police said.

“Till now over 30 interns and employees have approached us and more are coming forward. Based on their complaint we booked Chief Executive Officer Harshal Thakre, company’s head of Training and Development and a woman HR Manager. The company’s registered head office is at Noida while their Divisional Office is at Phase 2 in Hinjewadi,” the police said.

Assistant Inspector Sachin Wanganekar, who is investigating the case said, “Initial probe suggests the accused took Rs 15,000 from each of the interns for providing a laptop. They were told that for the initial two months of unpaid internship, they will start getting Rs 15,000 per month. The young engineers who have approached us till now have not been paid salaries ranging between one to three months.
The duration when the offence took place is between September 2025 till date.”

The IT firm has for the past five months failed to pay salaries to its freshers as well as interns. About Rs 15,000 was collected as security deposit for providing laptops to the freshers and the interns.

Harshal Thakre with techies at Thynk Tech, Hinjewadi (LinkedIn)

“We had approached Hinjewadi police to file an FIR against the owners of the firm. This was after several interns of the firm complained to us,” Pavanjit Mane, who heads Forum for IT Employees (FITE) told The Indian Express on Wednesday.

Mane said employees had not been paid salaries since January. “The company started in August last year. Initially, it paid salaries to freshers and then from January, no one has been paid any salary. The owners kept them, giving new dates for salaries every time the employees approached them. But they never kept their word,” said Mane.

FITE said despite the scam coming to light in the past few days, the state government or concerned ministries have failed to step in and assure the aggrieved youngsters. “The Industry Ministry, the Higher Education Technical Ministry and the Labour Ministry have taken no cognisance of the plight of the youngsters. We have not heard a word from them,” Mane said, adding that even MIDC officials have maintained silence in the matter.

The non-payment notice taped to ThynkTech India’s office door at Hinjewadi, on April 20. (Special arrangement)

Stating that the scam was far bigger than expected, Mane said, “The IT firm collected Rs 15,000 from around 700 interns and freshers. They seemed to have collected the stipend amount from the government which provides such reimbursements to IT firms. The interns and freshers have not been paid salaries for months. Cheques issued to them have bounced. On top of this, the firm must have made money on the projects they took up from different businesses.”

Speaking to The Indian Express, an intern who hails from Western Maharashtra said, “As per my information, there were three batches of trainee interns. Each batch had 125 trainee interns. Besides us, there were also other interns and hundreds of freshers.”

Stating that he had been working online, the intern said, “I have no idea exactly how many were recruited. The firm’s office had space which could accommodate less than 50 people. Most of them it seems were working online.”

ThynkTech India CEO Harshal Thakre being escorted by police after being detained in Nashik. (Special arrangement)

Mane said it was true the total workforce could be in the range of 700-1,000. “So far, we have information about 700. We are still collecting information about how many of them exactly worked for this firm as freshers, interns and trainee interns,” he said.

Mane said in the last eight months, this was the fifth IT firm which suddenly downed its shutters and vanished. “Three of the firms are from Hinjewadi IT hub and two are from Viman Nagar-Kharadi IT hub. In all these cases, we have filed police complaints,” he said.
Mane said, one of the firms — Flynaut — which downed its shutters abruptly four months ago had collected Rs 1.50 lakh from each employee as a security deposit.

“And then it suddenly closed down its operations and vanished. We suspect the firm was involved in a multi-crore scam,” he said.

Board with products of ThynkTech India at Hinjewadi office.

The firm conducted recruitments through its online job portal. “The modus operandi was to conduct two interviews. Then the candidates are told that they are selected but will have to deposit a security amount,” he said.

As per information gleaned from employees, Mane said, “The firm paid salaries for a couple of months to some employees to gain their confidence. And then suddenly, the salaries stopped and one day, the company itself vanished.”

Hinjewadi police said, “Detailed investigation will be carried out in the allegations made by FITE and the interns. So far, some 25-30 interns have come forward. If more persons come forward and make complaints, we will investigate them.”