New Delhi [India], December 30 (ANI): The Cyber Crime Unit of the Delhi Police has busted a major online investment fraud racket involving 22.7 lakh, with the arrest of , officials said on Tuesday.

The case concerns a fake stock-trading application scam in which the victim was allegedly lured to invest via a WhatsApp group posing as a legitimate stock market discussion forum, police added.

In the complaint dated November 13, it was alleged that the complainant was added to a WhatsApp group named 'Stan Chart Dialogue Forum L7.'

The group had five administrators, and discussions related to demat shares were conducted there. One of the group admins, Yalini Guna, offered an investment plan through their own application, 'SCIIHNW,' and claimed to provide shares. The complainant installed the application through the link provided, according to the official release.

The e-FIR under Sections 318(4)/340 BNS was registered at the Police Station Cyber Shahdara, Delhi.

Initially, the complainant invested approximately 2,70,000/- through 11 transactions on different dates. When the complainant attempted to withdraw the amount, the accused imposed various conditions and pressured the complainant to invest more money. In this manner, the complainant invested a total amount of 22,70,000/-. Thereafter, the complainant was blocked on the application, according to the release.

During the investigation, details of the accounts into which the transactions were made were obtained from the complainant. On examining the transaction trail on the NCRP portal, it was revealed that the money was credited through two transactions into a Bank of Maharashtra account. The account holder was identified as Sameer. The Call Detail Records (CDR) of the linked mobile number were obtained, which revealed the use of several other suspect mobile numbers in the fraud.

On November 10, the Investigating Officer along with the team reached Hisar, Haryana, where the suspects were identified as Sameer and Dev Singh. After confirming their role in the fraud, both were taken into custody and thoroughly interrogated, as stated in the release.

During interrogation, Sameer disclosed that he had opened 5-6 bank accounts in different banks and handed them over to Dev Singh, for which he received 4,000 per account. From their possession, two mobile phones and three SIM cards were recovered and seized through proper seizure memos.

Both accused have been sent to judicial custody, according to the officials. (ANI)