Marathi Film Producer With Links To Chinese Cyber Criminals Held By Pimpri-Chinchwad Police: All You Need To Know (VIDEO)

The Pimpri-Chinchwad Cyber Police have arrested a Marathi film producer, identified as Shivam Balkrishna Samvatsarkar (34), a resident of Erandwane in Pune, for allegedly providing his mule bank accounts to Chinese crime operatives for crediting money acquired through cyber frauds, officials said on Tuesday.

According to the police, a case was lodged on July 23 after a software engineer lost ₹57.7 lakh in a share market fraud. Reportedly, the complainant was surfing the internet when he came across a video on the stock market. When he clicked on the link, he came into contact with an individual who offered him tips to get good returns on investments.

Later, the complainant invested his hard-earned money. He was made to believe that he had earned a profit of ₹5.15 crore after he was manipulated into making several transactions through the fraudulent phone-based application.

During the investigation, the police zeroed in on one specific bank account registered in Pune in the name of an entity, Balaji Enterprises, and arrested Samvatsarkar, who had opened the account. When questioned, he told the police that he was a film producer and denied involvement in any cybercrime activities.

However, after conducting a thorough probe, it came to light that Samvatsarkar was in contact with a Chinese cyber operative going by the name of ‘Bambino’.

It was revealed that Samvatsarkar connived with this Chinese operative for his bank account to be used in 15 different cyber frauds. Over a few weeks, Samvatsarkar’s account saw transactions of ₹86.43 lakh come through, said the police. He reportedly got a 10% commission for sharing mule accounts with the fraudsters.

Meanwhile, the producer's two more bank accounts are being investigated.