WCL foreman in Chandrapur loses Rs 9.9 lakh in online share market fraud
A 53-year-old Western Coalfields employee was lured by a Facebook ad into a WhatsApp group and a trading app, police said; a case is registered against unknown accused.
An online fraud in the name of share market investment has come to light in Chandrapur. A 53-year-old employee was cheated of Rs 9.9 lakh after being promised high returns. A case has been registered against unknown accused at the Chandrapur cyber police station.
According to police, the complainant, Keshav Ramdas Pimpalkar (53), lives in Bhiwapur Ward, Old Biyani Chowk area, Chandrapur, near the RCERT Engineering College. He works as a foreman at Western Coalfields Limited (WCL) at Lalpeth. He has some knowledge of the share market and had earlier made some investments through the Groww app.
On August 20, 2026, while browsing Facebook, he saw an advertisement for share market investment. Through a link in the advertisement, he was added to a WhatsApp group named "sig Susquehanna", which already had 118 members. Unknown persons using the names Shikha Sharma, Professor Jignesh Vora and Admin gave him information about India's economy through WhatsApp messages and online classes and induced him to invest. Seeing other group members apparently making big gains, Pimpalkar decided to invest.
On their instructions, he downloaded an app named "Niftypwm". On August 30, he first deposited Rs 10,000, and the app showed him a profit of Rs 1,100. Between August 30 and September 22, 2026, he then sent a total of Rs 9.9 lakh in 11 transactions from his State Bank of India and ICICI Bank accounts to bank accounts given by the accused.
The app showed a profit of Rs 79,59,470 on the amount invested. When Pimpalkar tried to withdraw this sum and his original principal, he found he could not withdraw money from the app. Instead, the app showed an outstanding debt of Rs 23,00,529. He also received a message saying he could not sell shares or withdraw money until the debt was repaid. When he contacted Shikha Sharma on WhatsApp, she pressed him to pay the outstanding amount and advised him to extend the deadline and take a loan.
Realising he had been cheated online, Pimpalkar filed an online complaint on the cyber crime portal. On October 1, 2026, he then went to the Chandrapur cyber police station and filed a complaint in person. On that complaint, police registered a case against unknown accused under Sections 66(C) and 66(D) of the Information Technology Act and Sections 3(5), 308, 318(4) and 319(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023. A detailed investigation is under way under the guidance of Assistant Police Inspector Rajendra Sonwane and Police Inspector Sunil Vitthalrao Gade.
