Navi Mumbai: Bank manager and employees busted for share trading fraud

Two arrested individuals with the Navi Mumbai cyber cell

The Cyber Cell of the Navi Mumbai Police has made significant strides in apprehending individuals involved in a share trading fraud scam. Among those arrested are a manager and a former employee of a prominent private sector bank. According to police reports, the accused individuals employed a deceptive tactic wherein they used the bank accounts of financially vulnerable individuals to conduct illicit transactions related to share trading.

The police said the arrested accused are identified as Pravin Kumar Ramesh Mishra 26, a former employee of a private bank, and Ashok Shamlal Chavan 27, Emerging Corporates Business Development Manager of IndusInd Bank. "We have arrested both the accused and further investigation is on. The accused were arrested on March 29 and after being produced in court have been remanded to police custody for five days" said Gajanan Kadam, Senior Police Inspector, Navi Mumbai cyber Cell.

"We have seized four mobile phones, eight sim cards, seven debit cards, two chequebooks, three passbooks, and six rubber stamps. We are checking the bank accounts used by the accused in the crime. We have also frozen the accounts and seized around Rs 15.31 lakh," added Kadam.

Modus operandi

The police during the investigation found Pravin Mishra was working with Ashok Chavan at IndusInd Bank in Ulhasnagar Branch. Pravin used to bring customers to Ashok to open a current bank account. Ashok used to open a current bank account and keep the debit card, ATM, and passbook with him and use his mobile number and sim card for the same.

"Once the account is activated Ashok used to send the bank account details to cyber fraudsters active in other states and accordingly after the cyber fraud was done, the amount was transferred to the bank accounts," said a police officer. "The accused had more than four cases registered against them at various police stations across different states. A similar case is registered against them at the Delhi cyber cell," said sources.

Another case

A similar case was been registered at Navi Mumbai cyber cell against an unknown person under a Section of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act. The complainant was cheated for R33 lakh on the pretext of investing in the share market and getting high returns. Accordingly, after the case was registered, the police with the help of technical details found the bank accounts and later the involvement of the bank employees who were arranging bank accounts. "We are investigating to trace the individuals who are involved in this case of fraud. We suspect a huge chain and are further investigating to bust the racket," added Kadam.