Pune Cyber Police Bust Gang for Duping 85-Year-Old of Rs 22 Crore in Fake Share Trading Scam; 8 Arrested
Reported by Mubarak Ansari
Pune, 11th February 2026: The Pune City Cyber Police have arrested a gang of eight individuals for allegedly defrauding an 85-year-old senior citizen of a staggering ₹22.03 crore under the pretext of high returns in online share market trading.
The police have successfully frozen ₹3.24 crore of the defrauded amount during the investigation.
According to the police, the incident occurred between November 27, 2025, and January 9, 2026. Unknown suspects contacted the elderly victim, gaining his trust by promising lucrative returns on stock market investments. They added him to a WhatsApp group and instructed him to download a specific application via a link.
Believing the app to be legitimate, the victim transferred a total of ₹22,03,22,742 (Twenty-two crore, three lakh, twenty-two thousand, seven hundred and forty-two rupees) into seven different bank accounts provided by the fraudsters. When the victim received neither the promised returns nor his principal amount, he realized he had been duped and lodged a complaint.
A case was registered at the Cyber Police Station (Crime Reg. No. 07/2026) under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023 and the IT Act.
Led by Senior Police Inspector Swapnali Shinde, the investigation team traced the money trail using technical analysis. The probe revealed that funds were transferred to accounts in Yes Bank (Ambernath) and Bank of Maharashtra (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar).
The police conducted raids in Ambernath (Thane) and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, leading to the arrest of two separate groups involved in the crime.
Profile of the Accused The police first arrested four individuals:
Munilkumar Surendra Singh (51, Res: Ambernath, Thane) – Runs a security agency.
Akash Chandrashekhar Marathe (27, Res: Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) – Unemployed (B.Com graduate).
Lala Keshav Umap (26, Res: Sambhajinagar) – Laborer.
Parmeshwar Dilip Dabhade (23, Res: Sambhajinagar) – Laborer.
Further interrogation revealed that Umap and Dabhade had handed over their bank kits to other suspects. Following this lead, the police arrested four more accused from the Bhimnagar area of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar who facilitated the crime by providing bank kits (ATM cards, passbooks, net banking credentials) for the mule accounts:
5. Sahil John Shrisundar (22) – Vegetable vendor. 6. Vishwajit (Vishnu) Janardan Khandare (21) – Private firm employee. 7. Abhijeet Shashil Nade (21) – Nursing student. 8. Dishant Rajendra Kamble (22) – Courier company employee.
All eight accused were produced before the court and have been remanded to police custody until February 12, 2026.
The operation was conducted under the guidance of CP Amitesh Kumar, Joint CP Ranjan Kumar Sharma, Additional CP (Crime) Pankaj Deshmukh, and DCP (EOW & Cyber) Vivek Masal. The team included Sr. PI Swapnali Shinde, PI Sangita Devkate, and personnel Mandhare, Mundhe, Konde, Karkud, Kale, Bhadekar, and Bhosale.
