Pune, 12 February 2026: In a major breakthrough in the ₹22 crore online investment fraud involving an 85-year-old senior citizen, Pune Cyber Police have arrested four more accused, taking the total number of arrests to eight. The police have also successfully frozen over ₹3.25 crore linked to the fraudulent transactions.
The elderly victim was allegedly lured into investing through a fake share trading app that promised high returns. Cyber fraudsters convinced him to transfer large sums of money over time, resulting in a total loss exceeding ₹22 crore.
The investigation was led by Senior Police Inspector Swapnali Shinde of the Cyber Police Station. Based on technical analysis and digital tracking, four accused were earlier arrested from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. During further investigation, police traced several suspicious bank accounts to individuals in the same city.
Following this lead, Sahil John Sreesundar (22) and Vishwajeet Janardan Khandare (21) were detained. Their interrogation revealed that Jan Dhan bank accounts, along with ATM cards, passbooks, internet banking passwords and usernames, were handed over to Abhijit Sushil Nade (21) and Dishaant Rajendra Kamble (22). All four have been arrested and remanded to police custody.
Police said the investigation is still ongoing and more bank accounts are under scrutiny. Authorities are also probing possible interstate links to the cyber fraud network.
The case was handled under the guidance of Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar, Joint Commissioner Ranjankumar Sharma, Additional Commissioner (Crime) Pankaj Deshmukh and Deputy Commissioner (Economic and Cyber) Vivek Masal.
Interestingly, the accused come from diverse backgrounds. Some are minimally educated and work as daily wage labourers, vegetable vendors, private employees and in courier services. Others are highly educated but unemployed, police officials said.
Officials warned citizens to remain cautious while investing through online trading apps and to verify the authenticity of platforms before transferring money.
