Meerut: The Meerut Police arrested three cyber criminals from Punjab for defrauding a retired professor from Roorkee and his wife of over Rs 3 crore. The accused were involved in a cyber fraud through a fake share market app called "Natwarlal." Between September 26 and October 23, 2024, the cybercriminals committed fraud amounting to Rs 3.10 crore by siphoning off funds from the victims' accounts.
According to SP (Crime) Avnish Kumar, the victim, retired professor AK Agarwal of Roorkee Engineering College, resides with his family in Ganganagar, Meerut. The professor reportedly received WhatsApp calls and messages from a woman named Anaya Sharma and a man identified as Ritesh Jain. They convinced him to invest in share trading, promising large profits. The professor was lured into opening an HNI (High Net Worth Investment) account with Brandywine Global Company on September 26 and initially invested Rs 50,000.
However, the situation escalated when, on October 10, Rs 1.73 crore was transferred in 22 transactions to various bank accounts. The scammers claimed that shares of Hyundai Motor India Limited would be allotted to him. By October 22, Rs 9.52 lakh was frozen in his account, and he was told that he could not sell the shares until October 31. It was then that the professor realised he had been deceived.
Following the professor’s complaint, a case was registered with the cyber police station. During the investigation, the location of the suspects was traced to Punjab and Haryana, leading to the arrest of two accused from Ludhiana and one from Kapurthala. The arrested individuals have been identified as Ikram (32), Sahil Ali (29), and Jasvir Kumar (40). Further investigation revealed that, apart from the complaint from Meerut, 20 other complaints of similar cyber fraud had been registered in various states. The accused are now in custody, and the investigation is going on.
Read more:CBI Conducts Searches At 10 Locations In Cyber Fraud Case, Involving Financial Fraud Rs 117 Crore
