Mumbai: Trio held for conning demat account holders

Anuj Bhagoria, Kalyansingh Chandel and Bhimsingh Meena

The Mumbai north cyber police arrested three miscreants who allegedly cheated a woman of Rs 31.07 lakh by promising her high returns on investments in share market trading.

The woman had opened a demat account several years back but had stopped trading as she faced losses in the share market. In April 2021, she received a call from someone claiming to be an employee of A K Financial Services. He convinced her to start trading again by promising huge returns and also gave the reference of her younger brother to gain her confidence. "In total, the woman ended up investing Rs 31.07 lakh till March 2023," said a police officer. During this period, the accused would send her screenshots of data reflecting the profits via WhatsApp.

When the woman asked for her money, it was transferred to various other bank accounts in the names of the accused. She was then told to pay more money towards various service charges and taxes after which her money would be transferred. "The woman refused to pay, after which the accused started threatening to send recovery agents to her home," the officer added.

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The woman then approached the police and after investigations, Anuj Bhagoria, 30, was apprehended from Uttar Pradesh while Kalyansingh Chandel, 29, and Bhimsingh Meena, 28, were picked up from Madhya Pradesh last week. An interrogation revealed that the accused had worked for various share trading firms and had managed to procure data of investors having demat accounts. "They would primarily target people who had demat accounts but hadn't been using them. They would call the account holders and lure them to invest by promising huge returns in the share trading," said the officer.

According to the police, the accused would send screenshots that had been manipulated to show people that their investments were growing. "This resulted in people investing higher amounts after gaining their confidence," the officer said, adding that it is likely that they have duped many others.

The accused have no past criminal records. Further investigations are underway.

Rs 31.07l
Amount lost by woman