Police in Uttar Pradesh have arrested two more accused in an alleged ₹30 crore investment fraud built around a purported artificial intelligence trading platform, bringing the total number of arrests in the case to four. Investigators say the syndicate promised investors returns of 50 to 60 percent through stock market trading, operating under the names AIIPL Trading and TVS Solution, before allegedly running the operation as a classic Ponzi scheme.
How the Scheme Was Built
The case surfaced after Santalal Maurya, a resident of Hatwa village, filed a complaint on October 18, 2025, alleging he had invested ₹51 lakh across multiple transactions on the promise of high returns, and received neither his principal nor any profit back. Police investigation has since identified Vikrant Prakash Singh of Gaighat and Satyaprakash Yadav of Chandrahar as the two latest accused, following the earlier arrests of alleged ringleader Dhananjay Shukla of Kushinagar district and Rajni Prajapati of Chhattisgarh.
According to investigators, the fraud’s mechanics relied on illusion rather than any actual trading activity. Investors were shown virtual account balances and continuously climbing profits on their mobile screens, while the money they had put in was never deployed in the stock market at all. Instead, police allege that funds collected from new investors were used to pay earlier investors, sustaining the appearance of a genuine, profitable platform long enough to draw in fresh capital, a structure police estimate ultimately mobilised close to ₹30 crore.
Following the Money Trail
Investigators have moved to trace how the alleged proceeds were converted into assets. Vikrant Prakash Singh, who police say played a lead role in recruiting investors and collecting funds, is suspected of acquiring property worth roughly ₹4 crore, while Satyaprakash Yadav is alleged to have amassed assets worth around ₹50 lakh. Police believe immovable property was purchased in Khajni, Sahjanwa and Sant Kabir Nagar using the alleged proceeds of the fraud.
Action has also been initiated against the alleged ringleader’s assets. Police have filed reports before the competent court seeking attachment of a house in Lucknow allegedly bought by Dhananjay Shukla with fraud proceeds, and have written to Sub-Registrar offices requesting restrictions on the sale or transfer of other properties connected to the investigation, a step aimed at preventing the accused from liquidating assets while the case proceeds. Efforts to trace and arrest the remaining absconding members of the network are ongoing.
A Familiar Pattern Nationally
The Sant Kabir Nagar case fits a pattern investigators are now seeing repeatedly across India. Investment frauds, including Ponzi schemes, fake trading platforms and cryptocurrency scams, accounted for roughly 76 percent of the total ₹22,495 crore lost to cybercrime nationally in 2025, making it by far the largest single category of financial cyber fraud in the country. Uttar Pradesh has responded by scaling up dedicated infrastructure, and now operates 75 cybercrime police stations, the highest of any state, as part of a nationwide expansion from 169 such stations in 2020 to 459 today. Just months earlier, Aligarh’s cyber crime cell had helped unearth a pan-India investment racket run through roughly 600 WhatsApp groups, leading to twelve arrests across six states and the disruption of an estimated ₹500 crore in potential losses.
Prof. Triveni Singh, the former IPS officer and cybercrime specialist, said one of the clearest warning signs of a Ponzi or fraudulent investment scheme is the promise of unusually high or guaranteed returns, a red flag that consistently precedes these collapses. He advised investors to independently verify a company’s regulatory registration, business model and financial credentials rather than relying on social media promotions, referral incentives or early payouts designed to build false confidence. He further urged anyone who suspects they have fallen victim to investment fraud to report it immediately to the National Cyber Crime Helpline at 1930 or the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, noting that prompt reporting remains the strongest tool available for freezing and eventually recovering defrauded funds.
