Nagpur: In a major breakthrough, the Crime Branch Unit 4 of Nagpur Police has arrested 23 accused involved in a large-scale fraud racket operating under the guise of business partnerships and online trading. The accused allegedly cheated several youths by luring them into fake business ventures and later using their personal details and bank accounts for illegal online transactions, gaming, betting, and money laundering activities.
The investigation began after a complaint was lodged by Dipak Ghanshyam Gaidhane (28), a resident of Nagraj Chowk, Civil Lines, Gondia. Dipak, who was searching for a job, was introduced to Sumit Rajesh Patle (23), a resident of Navargaon, Gondia, through a mutual friend, Avinash Rahangdale. Sumit had been residing in Nagpur for the past five months and offered to help Dipak find employment.
Gold Rate
10 Oct 2025
On October 10, 2025, Dipak met Sumit at Subhash Nagar Metro Station, where another accused, Rohit Rajesh Ahir (32), resident of Rana Pratap Nagar, Nagpur, also joined them. Rohit arranged accommodation for Dipak and introduced him to several others — Vaibhav Baghel, Swapnil Shende, Pratik alias Kunal Shende, Rohit Kamble, Sohel Khan, Anand alias Amit Vishwakarma, Abhishek Singh, and Ashwin.
The accused convinced Dipak to join them in a “profitable business venture.” To make it appear legitimate, they collected his Aadhaar card, PAN card, and other documents, and opened a Bank of Baroda account (Hingna branch) in his name. They also registered a fake firm titled “Dipak Enterprises (Machinery Tools Equipment Purchase and Sale)” under the Small Scale Industry category, listing the office address as 1, Haware Colony, New Indora, near Lalit Kalavati Bhavan, Nagpur.
Unbeknownst to Dipak, the accused used his name and firm details to conduct massive illegal online transactions involving gaming, betting, hawala, and money-lending operations. When he checked his bank records, he was shocked to discover that between October 13 and October 27, 2025, transactions worth Rs 1,73,51,871 had been carried out through online UPI, RTGS, IMPS, and hawala routes, all without his knowledge.
Realizing he had been duped, Dipak lodged a complaint with the Rana Pratap Nagar Police Station, which registered an offence under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act.
Following the complaint, Crime Branch Unit 4, led by PI Kamalakar Gaddime, PSI Sachin Mate, and PSI Navinath Devkate, launched a coordinated operation. On October 29, 2025, police arrested Sumit Patle and Vaibhav Baghel, and during interrogation, the duo confessed to defrauding six other youths using similar tactics.
Subsequent raids led to the arrest of 21 more accused from Nagpur, Amravati, Nashik, Pune, Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha. The arrested include: Vaibhav Baghel, Sumit Patle, Rohit Kamble, Sohel Khan, Ashwin Bhargav, Anilkumar Das, Sushant Raut, Shreyas Maske, Pankaj Tete, Sheikh Maidul, Azhar Sheikh, Pankaj Vishwakarma, Akshay Kajde, Abhishek Gupta, Deepak Vishwakarma, Vijay Narote, Surjitsingh Bedi, Sagar Bagde, Chandrakant Shirole, Rahul Juni, Devesh Vazir, Amar Waghole, and Ashish Basediya.
Police have seized material worth Rs 17.47 lakh, including 8 establishment certificates, 8 small-scale industry registrations, 9 rent agreements, fake rubber stamps, banners, cheque books (58), Aadhaar and PAN cards, 50 SIM cards, 38 mobile phones, and a BMW car (DL-1CT-7949). Additionally, Rs 52.99 lakh across multiple bank accounts has been frozen.
During the probe, information from National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) revealed 82 linked complaints across various states, including 13 in Maharashtra, with 6 FIRs already registered.
The operation was conducted under the supervision of Commissioner of Police Ravinder Kumar Singal, Joint CP Navin Chand Reddy, Additional CP (Crime) Vasant Pardeshi, DCP (Detection) Rahul Maknikar, and ACP (Crime Branch) Abhijit Patil.
The investigation is ongoing, and police suspect that the racket has nationwide links with possible connections to organized cyber and hawala networks.
