A retired ISRO scientist from Secunderabad, Telangana, was allegedly duped of Rs 61.95 lakh in an online trading scam run by a 23-year-old resident of the Jacob Circle area near Agripada. The accused, Ashish Solanki, who was arrested on Saturday, is suspected of being involved in at least five frauds, with the total amount siphoned off estimated at Rs 42 crore.
Police said the scientist, a 68-year-old, discovered a website operated by a firm identifying itself as Experts Pro Ltd on March 27. A man named Harsh, who introduced himself as a representative of the platform, began contacting the victim regularly. Presenting himself as a trading expert, the scamster offered insights on market trends and assured high returns. The victim initially invested Rs 27,000.
The scamsters told the scientist that he would have to cough up money to ‘unlock’ his profits. REPRESENTATION PIC/ISTOCK
Harsh then advised the victim to invest larger amounts to increase the margin level. Acting on this advice, the victim transferred Rs 5 lakh, followed by another Rs 4.35 lakh, and continued investing in instalments, eventually transferring a total of Rs 61.95 lakh. Despite displaying significant profits in the victim’s demat account, the fraudsters discouraged him from withdrawing any funds. By May, the victim had exhausted all his financial resources.
On May 21, while travelling with his family, the victim informed the scammer that he would be unavailable for a few days. The scammer assured him that the account would be managed in his absence. While the complainant was travelling, he was pressured with claims that his margin level had dropped significantly and was asked to immediately deposit Rs 10 lakh. When the victim hesitated, another person—believed to be part of the scam operation—joined the call and intensified the pressure. This led to a heated argument, after which the victim refused to transfer any more money.
Following this, the complainant began receiving phone calls from individuals identifying themselves as “recovery agents”. They promised to help him recover the money he had invested. Since then, a balance of USD 75,000 was displayed in the victim’s trading platform account, but he was unable to withdraw the amount. The scamsters informed him that in order to ‘unlock’ the profits, he would need to pay additional charges, thus continuing the cycle of fraud.
The investigation
Based on the complaint, the Cyber Crime Wing of Hyderabad police launched an investigation into the matter after registering a case under Sections 66C and 66D of the Information Technology Act, read with Sections 111(2), 318(4), 319(2), 336(3), 338, and 340(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
The victim had transferred the money through 10 transactions from his bank account to various other accounts, two of which were found to be opened in the name of a private company. Upon verifying the KYC details of those accounts, it was revealed that Solanki was listed as the director of the company linked to one.
As a result, the Hyderabad Police traced and arrested Solanki with the help of their Mumbai counterparts. Officials added that around Rs 42 crore, linked to five different cyber fraud cases, had been deposited into the associated bank accounts.
