The Maharashtra police have busted a suspected fraudulent investment call centre in Nalasopara and arrested 13 individuals following a targeted raid on their premises. Operating under the trade name ‘For Invest 2 Gain Research’, the syndicate allegedly misled prospective investors by falsely claiming registration with the Securities and Exchange Board of India. According to investigators, the operators pitched speculative stock recommendations, extracted a 30 percent commission on generated profits, and placed clients who complained of financial losses on a blacklist. Police seized equipment and assets valued at Rs 8.57 lakh during the operation, while a total of 15 persons, including a minor, have been named in the formal complaint.
Tip-Off Leads to Nalasopara Raid
The operation came to light on October 23 when the cyber cell of Nalasopara police station received specific actionable intelligence regarding the illicit setup. Acting under directives from senior officers, an enforcement team raided a room located in Nalasopara West. Officers discovered several operatives communicating with clients over mobile devices, with prepared calling rosters containing names and contact details displayed before them. During initial questioning, 27-year-old Sheetal Shyamnarayan Yadav identified himself as the operational manager. Preliminary findings indicate the callers systematically represented the enterprise as an authorised advisory firm eligible to provide stock trading guidance.
Profit-Skimming Model and Investor Blacklisting
Investigators revealed that the callers acquired phone directories from external sources to solicit unsuspecting individuals into stock market investments. Under their arrangement, the operators pocketed 30 percent of the returns from profitable trades, collecting payments through a QR scanner provided by Yadav. When market movements resulted in severe capital losses, clients seeking redress were summarily cut off and added to a blacklist to evade scrutiny. Police are currently scrutinising the scope of promises made regarding assured returns, capital safety, and projected margins across trading accounts.
Unauthorised Access and Legal Action
The ongoing probe is examining whether call centre personnel secured unauthorised access to clients’ net banking details, login credentials, and trading passwords. Investigators suspect laptops and mobile devices were deployed to access investor accounts directly to conduct index trades across Nifty and Sensex contracts. The FIR names 15 individuals, including Sheetal Yadav, Dinesh Ramroop Yadav, Rohit Shyamnarayan Yadav, Anuj Saroj Pal, Om Kamlesh Upadhyay, Kushal Jaykumar Gaud, Sundaram Suresh Upadhyay, Shrikant Nagnath Kore, Ash Ramnagina Yadav, Chandan Gopi Raut, Swaroop Rajendra Jadhav, Anand Ramkisun Madeshia, Rohit Mohan Ram, Shyamjit Yadav, and an unnamed minor. The 13 arrested adults were remanded to police custody for three days to facilitate forensic extraction of digital evidence.
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