Uttarakhand STF arrests mastermind of ₹750-crore cyber fraud racket at Delhi airport

Police said that a Look Out Circular (LOC) was issued against the accused — Abhishek Agarwal — earlier in connection with a fake loan apps and financial fraud case

Updated on: Jul 6, 2025, 18:43:31 IST

By Neeraj Santoshi

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Dehradun: A 36-year-old chartered accountant, allegedly the mastermind of an inter-state cyber fraud racket, was arrested at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport by the Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) on Saturday.

36-year-old Abhishek Agarwal had set up nearly 35 to 40 shell companies — 13 in his own name and 28 in his wife’s name — many of which had Chinese nationals as co-directors (Representative photo)

Police said that a Look Out Circular (LOC) was issued against the accused — Abhishek Agarwal — earlier in connection with a fake loan apps and financial fraud case.

“Agarwal had set up nearly 35 to 40 shell companies — 13 in his own name and 28 in his wife’s name — many of which had Chinese nationals as co-directors. These companies were used to route and launder over ₹750 crore in suspicious transactions, which are now under investigation,” senior superintendent of police of the STF Navneet Bhullar said.

Bhullar said that Agarwal and his associates launched over 15 fake loan apps such as Inst Loan, Maxi Loan, KK Cash, RupeeGo, and Lendkar. “These apps lured victims with promises of instant loans with minimal documentation. Once users installed the apps, the syndicate gained access to their mobile phones and extracted personal data including photographs, contact lists, and private files,” he said.

Also Read: Man conning car buyers with fake loan promises arrested

“The fraudsters, using the stolen data, sent threatening messages, made harassing calls, and even edited and circulated morphed images to blackmail them. Many victims, fearing social embarrassment, transferred large sums of money into bank accounts controlled by the syndicate. The funds were later moved to bank accounts based in China and other foreign countries,” he added.

Also Read: 15 arrested in Noida for extorting ₹310 crore from thousands across India

Ankur Dhingra, who was previously arrested from Gurugram, reportedly started the racket between 2019–20. “Dhingra had introduced Chinese nationals into the operation and helped establish a base for the fraudulent loan app scheme. Agarwal, who travelled to Shanghai and Shenzhen in 2019, played a central role in expanding the network and creating the shell companies used in the laundering process,” he said.

Police recovered a mobile phone, passport, Indian and Thai currency, an Apple Watch, among other things, from his possession, Bhullar said.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Neeraj Santoshi
Neeraj Santoshi is the Chief of Bureau for Hindustan Times in Uttarakhand, where he leads the state reporting team while covering government, politics, environment, wildlife, Uttarakhand High Court, and issues shaping the Himalayan region. With more than two decades in journalism across conflict zones, he has covered politically sensitive regions and environmentally fragile landscapes, and focused on stories that combine public interest with in-depth storytelling. An alumnus of Pune University with a Master’s in Communication Studies, he has reported extensively from Jammu & Kashmir (2003-2010), Madhya Pradesh (2010 to 2018 ) and Uttarakhand (Since 2018), covering subjects ranging from insurgency, elections and governance to wildlife conservation, mining, climate change, agriculture, human rights and social justice. He has covered politics and legislative assemblies of both Jammu & Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh over more than a decade. Before taking over as Chief of Bureau in Uttarakhand, he served as Special Correspondent with Hindustan Times in Madhya Pradesh and earlier reported for both Hindustan Times and The Indian Express in Jammu & Kashmir, where he covered state politics, environment and insurgency-related developments. Over the years, his stories have focused on environmental degradation, wildlife, illegal mining, governance and the changing social fabric of Himalayan states and Central India. He is particularly interested in long-form explanatory journalism, and stories that explore the intersection of ecology, conservation, governance and society. Outside the newsroom, Neeraj enjoys reading widely on neuroscience, consciousness studies, Artificial Intelligence and quantum physics, with a special interest in Kashmiri Tantric Shaivist traditions. He is also passionate about wildlife, mountaineering and the Himalayas, interests that continue to inform his reporting and deepen his understanding of the region he covers.Read More

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