Sixth accused arrested in Rs 3-cr stock investment fraud case
The cybercrime cell of the UT police has arrested the sixth accused in a Rs 3.66 crore online investment scam.
The accused, Chander Mohan Singh, was in judicial custody in another case at Tihar Jail in New Delhi. He was brought on a production warrant after receiving permission from the court.
On a complaint of Surinder Kumar Thakur, a resident of Sector 49, Chandigarh, the police had registered an FIR under Sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC along with Section 66-D of the IT Act on May 23 last year.
The complainant state that he was lured into a seemingly legitimate WhatsApp group titled “P15 Stock Market Exchange Club”. The group was run by individuals posing as financial experts, including a woman named Ankita Gupta, who claimed to be associated with SMC Global Securities Ltd and a so-called stock market “teacher”, Rahul Sharma. Both routinely shared curated market trends and tips, gradually gaining the complainant’s trust.
Over a period of time, the victim was directed to open an “institutional account” through a trading platform, allegedly affiliated with SMC Global Securities. He was introduced to another operative, Manish Kumar, who facilitated the set-up of this account and guided him to download various trading apps via suspicious links. These apps, which frequently changed under the pretense of “upgrades,” led the complainant to believe he was investing in exclusive, high-return shares.
Between February and March last year, the victim transferred over Rs 3.66 crore to various bank accounts provided by the accused. All transactions were conducted digitally, with instructions provided through WhatsApp messages. Calls were consistently avoided by the accused to prevent voice identification.
Earlier in the investigation, five persons had been arrested in the case from Jodhpur, Rajasthan. The recent arrest of Chander Mohan Singh added a crucial link to the fraudulent network. During interrogation, it was revealed that he was also named in two more similar cases registered in Delhi and Faridabad in Haryana.
The police said the investigation in the case was underway and efforts were on to nab other persons linked with the racket and recover the complainant’s money.
