Cyber criminals cheated a retired Managing Director of the State Bank of India of Rs 1.6 crore on the pretext of huge profit in share trading. The incident has raised concerns as cyber thieves are increasingly targeting senior officials in the city. Based on the complaint, the Cyber Police have registered a case against four accused. According to police, the retired officer, who resides on Wardha Road, received a WhatsApp message on April 18 from a woman who introduced herself as Isha Arora. She invited him to join a stock trading group run by Ajay Krishna, who posed as a ‘gold stock mentor’.

 

In the group, Ajay Krishna gave investment advice and promised high returns. On July 3, the victim opened a demat account and initially invested Rs 50,000. Within a few days, the account showed a profit of 5 per cent, which encouraged him to invest more. On August 21, he was advised to buy 2,58,332 shares at Rs 120 each, worth nearly Rs 4 crore. At that time, his account balance was Rs 1.92 crore, which he invested. However, the fraudsters told him that his action violated SEBI rules and threatened him with legal action and even jail.

 

They then offered a “solution” by arranging a loan of Rs 87 lakh. When the victim tried to sell the shares, the accused demanded additional payment under the head of ‘capital gain tax’. When he asked for official documents, they refused. Realising he had been duped, he filed an online complaint on September 21. Acting on the complaint, Senior Police Inspector Baliram Sutar of the Cyber Police initiated an investigation and contacted various banks. As a result, Rs 54 lakh belonging to the fraudsters was frozen. A case has been registered against four people, and further investigation is underway to trace the culprits.