Three persons linked to an investment scam were arrested after a man filed a complaint with Ahmedabad City Police's Detection of Cybercrime Branch (DCB) over a financial fraud.

Science City resident Utpal Patel had joined a group called ‘Aditya Birla Exchange’ three months ago, where stock market information was shared.

Patel had communicated with the group’s admin, who promised huge returns on investments and asked for a 20% commission on profits. Trusting the Aditya Birla name, Patel opened an account and began investing.

Within just 13 days, Patel had invested ₹59 lakh, and the profits  reflected in his account. However, when he tried to withdraw the amount, he was asked to pay taxes. 

This raised suspicion, and Patel realised that he had been duped. He then filed a complaint with the cyber crime department.

Acting on the complaint, police arrested three individuals: Prakash Parmar of Ambawdi, Priyank Thakkar of Memnagar, and Keval Gadhvi of Bopal.

Preliminary investigations revealed that Parmar had rented out his bank account for fraudulent transactions of the scam, while Thakkar managed the accounts and transferred the funds to a Chinese gang. Thakkar had arranged systems to ensure the gang received the money.

Gadhvi disclosed that they had set up an office in Saffron Tower, Ambawadi. Acting on this information, police raided the office, where they seized ₹37.11 lakh in cash, multiple bank cheque books, 33 debit and credit cards, 17 passbooks, and 37 SIM cards.

Additionally, from the accused’s residences, the police recovered 112 cheque books, 48 passbooks, and 12 debit and credit cards. Fake university marksheets, certificates, letterheads, and stamps were also found.

The police believe that many big revelations may emerge from this scam as the investigation progresses.

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