29-07-2025
‘Film producer' arrested for providing mule account to Chinese national
PUNE: The Cyber Cell of the Pimpri Chinchwad police arrested a film producer for providing his mule bank accounts to a Chinese cyber criminal for crediting money acquired through cyber frauds. The accused has been identified as Shivam Balkrishna Samvatsarkar from Erandwane. The Cyber Cell of the Pimpri Chinchwad police arrested a film producer for providing his mule bank accounts to a Chinese cyber criminal for crediting money acquired through cyber frauds. The accused has been identified as Shivam Balkrishna Samvatsarkar from Erandwane. (Shutterstock)
The police said a complaint was filed on 23 July after the complainant lost more than ₹57 lakh in a share market fraud. The complainant, who is a highly qualified IT professional, was surfing on Youtube when he saw a video on the stock market. When he clicked on the link, he came in contact with an individual, who offered him tips to get good returns on investments.
Accordingly, the victim invested and initially, his dashboard showed profits. However, when he tried to withdraw his profits, he was asked to pay various charges first. Realising then that he had been duped, he approached the police.
During police investigation, it was revealed that a fraud amount was received in Balaji Enterprises' HDFC bank account. With the help of Deccan police, Pimpri Chinchwad police identified the account holder and arrested him.
Pravin Swami, assistant inspector at Cyber Police Station, Pimpri Chinchwad, said, 'Initially, the accused did not admit to any crime, saying he was a film producer. Later, he revealed that he and a Chinese person who goes by the name, Bambino, were involved in this case.'
Ravikiran Nale, senior inspector, Cyber Police said, 'Total 15 complaints of cyber fraud have been reported against his bank account and till date ₹86,43,119 have been received in his account via various frauds.'
Their investigation also revealed that for sharing mule accounts with cyber fraudsters, the accused used to get 10 % commission. For the last six months, the accused shared his bank account details with many Chinese nationals.
Police said some of the friends of the accused were involved in mule account-sharing business. They were earning good income without coming under the radar of the police. Hence, the accused also decided to enter the field but got caught by the Pimpri Chinchwad police.
A case has been filed at the Pimpri Chinchwad Police Station under sections of 318(4), 316(2) 3(5)of the BNS and sections 66 (c) and 66 (d) of the Information Technology Act.
