A 39-year-old woman from Bangalore has been arrested for allegedly duping a Salt Lake resident out of Rs 2.35 crore by promising huge returns on investments in shares, an officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate said.
The woman was arrested by a team from the Salt Lake cyber crime police station, which functions under the commissionerate, based on a complaint lodged by 55-year-rold Somnath Basak, a Salt Lake resident.
Basak has mentioned in the complaint that the accused, Shweta Sonali, had got in touch with him after he visited a website called www.lexatrade.com, which described itself as an online share trading platform.
The website had a list of “investment packages” and Basak was promised a return of Rs 25 crore if he invested around Rs 2.35 crore in shares, the officer said.
“When the complainant expressed interest in online share trading, Sonali got in touch with him. She identified herself as a co-director of the website, along with her husband,” the officer said.
“Basak was asked to deposit around Rs 2.35 crore in nine accounts. Two of the accounts were listed as company accounts and the rest were in the name of Sonali and her husband.”
As told, Basak transferred the money to the nine accounts. But after receiving the amount, Sonali and her husband allegedly stopped all communication with Basak.
“We tracked down the bank accounts and found that withdrawals had been made from Dubai, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka,” the officer said.
The cops then froze the accounts. “One of the accounts had Rs 25 lakh. The rest of the money had been withdrawn,” the officer said.
A team from the Salt Lake cyber crime police station arrested Sonali in Bangalore. “We are trying to find out whether Sonali had cheated other persons. So far we have got to know that they did not invest any of the money they had swindled out of Basak in shares. They also ran a company called Tanjore Tech Pvt Ltd. We need to know what the company does,” the officer said.
Woman found dead in Selimpur
A 66-year-old woman who lived in Selimpur Lane in south Kolkata’s Garfa was found dead in her room on Sunday.
Rama Pal had recently suffered leg injuries in a fall in the house and was unable to move. She was a lawyer by profession. The police said they did not receive any complaint of foul play from the family.