EOW nabs suspect in ₹10.27 cr fraud from unclaimed demat accounts

The Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police made an arrest on Saturday in connection with the fraudulent transfer of ₹10.27 crore from unclaimed demat accounts of stock broking firms. The arrested individual, identified as Arvind Goyal, 51, is one of the three suspects involved in the scheme

MUMBAI: The Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police made an arrest on Saturday in connection with the fraudulent transfer of ₹10.27 crore from unclaimed demat accounts of stock broking firms. The arrested individual, identified as Arvind Goyal, 51, is one of the three suspects involved in the scheme. The police are searching for the remaining two, including one Vinay Vakharia.

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The vice president (legal) of JM Financial Services, Kunal Kothari, brought the fraudulent activity to the attention of the police. The accused, impersonating officials of the concerned firms, managed to transfer shares and withdraw funds from the official demat accounts.

“The accused had somehow extracted the information of some customers of the complainant’s firm whose demat accounts were lying dormant for some time. This was on account of the shares being expired or not being claimed for a long time,” said a police official. The accused, presenting themselves as representatives of the companies involved, forged PAN cards and Aadhar cards belonging to customers such as Sandhya Jain, Ashok Jain, Akhil Sawant, Deepsikha Roy, Belangadi Rao, and Jamshed Vakharia in the case of JM Financial Services.

The EOW officials said utilising the forged documents, the accused created fake demat accounts in JM Financial Services Limited, claiming the unclaimed shares of the aforementioned customers. The modus operandi involved opening bank accounts in the fake names of these customers, transferring shares into these accounts, and subsequently withdrawing ₹10.27 crore.

The FIR for this case was initially filed at Kasturba Marg police station but was later transferred to the EOW due to the substantial amount involved in the fraudulent activities.