Pimpri Chinchwad: Three Arrested for Duping Citizen of Rs 61 Lakh in Cyber Fraud from Lonavala Villa
Pimpri Chinchwad, 13th November 2024: The Pimpri-Chinchwad Police Commissionerate’s (PCPC) Cyber Police Station has arrested three individuals from a villa in Lonavala for duping a citizen of Rs 61 lakh. Along with their arrest, items worth Rs 3,05,000, which were used in committing cyber fraud, were seized. A resident from Sangvi was lured with promises of 25-30% returns in the share market, leading him to invest and ultimately lose his money.
A resident of Sangvi filed a complaint with the Cyber Police Station, resulting in a case being registered against the accused under the BNS Sections 318(4) (cheating), 319(2) (cheating by personation), and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act of 2000.
The arrested individuals include medical student Avinash Dnyanoba Baklikar (aka Com King), aged 26, from Latur; online trader Aadab Rupad Shaikh (aka Maddy), aged 26, from Ghaziabad; and trader of bank equipment Satish Bhagwan More, aged 35, from Lohgaon, native of Ratnagiri.
According to police reports, a man from Sangvi, while searching for information on investing in the share market, was contacted by a woman who added him to a WhatsApp group. There, he got in touch with the accused, who promised him 30% returns on his investment in the share market. The complainant paid Rs 61,30,000 but neither received the promised returns nor the investment amount. Realizing he had been duped, he rushed to the police.
The Cyber Police initiated an investigation and began analyzing the bank accounts to which the money was transferred. Their investigation led them to discover that the bank account was used by the accused Baklikar. Further inquiry revealed that Baklikar was in the Lonavala area, prompting a search across more than 1,000 villas and lodges in the region. The accused were using fake and different Aadhar cards to check into hotels. The three accused were eventually caught at a villa named Golden Valley in Lonavala. From them, police seized 12 mobile phones, one laptop, nine bank passbook kits, ATM cards, Aadhar cards, a PAN card, and cash, all worth Rs 3,05,500. Over 150 complaints have been filed against them. Additionally, the accused were providing crime-related accounts to people outside the state and abroad.
This operation was carried out under the guidance of Pimpri Chinchwad Commissioner of Police Vinoy Kumar Choubey, Joint Commissioner of Police Dr Shashikant Mahavarkar, Additional Commissioner of Police Vasant Pardeshi, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sandeep Doiphode, and Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime 1) Dr Vishal Hire. The team was led by Police Inspector Ravikiran Nale, Assistant Police Inspector Praveen Swami, Police Sub-Inspectors Sagar Poman, Vaibhav Patil, Prakash Katkade, Vidya Patil, and Police Constables Hemant Kharat, Deepak Bhosale, Deepak Mane, Atul Lokhande, Pritam Bhalerao, Abhijeet Ukirde, Shrikant Kabule, Saurabh Ghate, Sandeep Tekale, Nilesh Deshmukh, Suranjan Chavan, Mukund Lotake, Priya Wasave, and Deepali Chavan, all from the Cyber Police Station.
