Delhi Police busts Rs 1.6-crore stock market fraud; 3 held for running fake investment firms

The Delhi Police has busted a pan-India stock market investment fraud that allegedly duped victims of crores through fake companies and fabricated trading platforms, an official said on Monday.

Three people, including Sunil Kumar, the director of a shell firm and a resident of Fatehabad, Agra, and Vishal Choure and his wife, both residents of Thane, Maharashtra, allegedly linked to another bogus entity, have been arrested, they said.

Police said the arrests were made during coordinated raids conducted in Ballabgarh (Haryana) and Thane (Maharashtra), leading to the unravelling of a multi-layered racket operating under the guise of GTR Electronics Pvt Ltd and Udyam Women Empowerment Foundation.

The syndicate allegedly ran online financial traps, fake pre-IPO schemes and fraudulent forex trading platforms, cheating people across several states.

The investigation began with a complaint from a man who lost Rs 1.6 crore after being lured by a woman he had met through social media, who persuaded him to invest in a fake UK-based platform named Spreadex Global Ltd., a senior police officer said.

A detailed financial trail led the investigators to the two fake companies, police said.

At least 13 NCRP complaints linked to GTR Electronics Pvt. Ltd., involving Rs 88.40 lakh, were traced, while 45 complaints linked to Udyam Women Empowerment Foundation, involving Rs 22 lakh, surfaced during scrutiny, the officer added.

According to police, Rs 15 lakh from the complainant’s money was traced to the account of GTR Electronics and another Rs 11 lakh to the account of Udyam Women Empowerment Foundation, which was jointly operated by Thane residents Vishal Choure and his wife. The couple allegedly handled the proceeds of cyber fraud routed through the bogus foundation, officials said.

During the probe, it was revealed that GTR Electronics’ director Sunil Kumar had created a fake office in Shakarpur, east Delhi, using forged documentation to project the entity as a legitimate electronics firm.

A current account was opened to receive and layer fraud money before it was diverted further, police said, adding that Kumar allegedly handed over control of the company documents and credentials to his associates.

Police said that further investigation is underway to identify other members of the syndicate, track additional financial trails and recover more defrauded money.