Mumbai News: Four Arrested For Cheating, Suicide Abetment In Online Stock Scam Case

Three months after the death of a 20-year-old youth, who jumped in front of a local train, the Kurla railway police on Saturday booked four people for cheating and suicide abetment. Latest probe findings revealed that Vijay Tete took the extreme step as he was apparently depressed after being cheated of Rs1.8 lakh in an online stock market fraud. Those arrested – Govind Ahirrao, Sunil Kumar Mishra, Aman Abbas and Harjit Sandhu – are accused of receiving the portions of the duped amount in their accounts. The search for the main cyber fraudsters is still on.

On July 17, Tete, a resident of Powai and a final-year student of mass media and graphic designing, was found dead on the tracks between the Ghatkopar and Vikhroli stations. No suicide note was found and a case of accidental death was registered back then. His father works in the Customs department.

According to the police, on July 15, Tete invested Rs1,000 on an online trading site and instantly received a profit of Rs1,000. Encouraged by this, he invested Rs50,000 twice and Rs80,000 once. Two days later, he called his father, saying that the site’s managers were pressuring him to invest a minimum of Rs4 lakh to continue trading and earn more profit.

Fraud Pressure

Despite the father's warning that the site could be fake, Tete insisted that other users had invested, after which the father transferred Rs1 lakh. Notably, the State Bank of India (Madhya Pradesh branch) reversed the amount, flagging that the beneficiary account was fraudulent.

Ignored Warnings

However, Tete ignored the warning and insisted his father to transfer money to another account, said the police. Simultaneously, the site managers continued threatening him on Telegram to pay more or lose profits, they added. Eventually, he lost Rs1.8 lakh, which he had earlier invested.

On July 17 around 8pm, Tete left without informing his parents and an hour later they called on his phone and the call was answered by the police. They informed him that their son had met with an accident.