Two bankers held in Rs 1.7cr stock market fraud

Panchkula: Two bank employees from Ahmedabad have been arrested for their alleged role in a Rs 1.75-crore stock market fraud that promised victims double returns on investments. With their arrest, the total number of accused held in the case has risen to 12.Police identified the arrested men as Krishna Pratap and Badal Gurnam Singh, both residents of Ahmedabad. They were produced before a court on April 8 and remanded to police custody for seven days.The case dates back to July 2024, when a Panchkula resident approached the city's Cyber Police Station with a complaint. The complainant said he had come across a Facebook advertisement touting lucrative stock market returns. After clicking on it, the complainant was contacted via WhatsApp and lured with assurances of high profits.Investigators said the fraudsters systematically gained the complainant's trust and persuaded him to invest increasing amounts over several stages, eventually siphoning off Rs 1.75 crore.During the probe, police found that the two arrested bankers allegedly acted in collusion with the cyber fraud network, helping open bank accounts using the documents of unsuspecting individuals and routing the defrauded money through multiple accounts.