Mumbai, Aug 14 (IANS) A shocking case of cyber fraud has emerged from the Malad area of Maharashtra’s Mumbai, where three cyber fraudsters allegedly cheated a local businessman of lakhs by falsely promising a loan under the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY).

The accused, identified as Nitin Kumar, Ashwin Kumar, and Dayashankar Mishra, have been booked by the Cyber Cell of the North Regional Division under charges of cheating and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act.

According to police, the complainant, who runs an imitation jewellery packaging business in Malad, needed a loan of Rs 10 lakh to expand his business. In June 2025, he downloaded a mobile application and applied for a loan.

A few days later, he received a call from a man identifying himself as Nitin Kumar, claiming to represent the Prime Minister Mudra Yojana office with a branch at BKC, Mumbai. Nitin assured him that a Rs 10 lakh loan had been approved and requested personal documents and the loan application. He even sent an approval letter via WhatsApp.

Soon after, Nitin began demanding money for processing fees and other charges. Around this time, another man named Ashwin Kumar contacted the complainant, stating that Nitin had shared his number. Claiming to be an employee of State Bank, Ashwin sent his ID card over WhatsApp to gain trust.

On various pretexts, Ashwin demanded urgent payments, and the complainant ended up transferring Rs 9,53,177 into multiple bank accounts. To arrange the funds, he also borrowed money from friends, who transferred an additional Rs 46,251 to the accused’s accounts.

Despite repeated assurances, no loan amount was ever credited to the complainant’s account. Eventually, calls to both Nitin and Ashwin went unanswered.

The complainant then contacted another individual whose account he had transferred money to. This man, identifying himself as Dayashankar Mishra from a finance company, was informed of the fraud. However, Dayashankar also lured the complainant with further loan promises and extracted an additional Rs 18,73,700 for “processing” and related charges — again, without delivering any loan.

Realising he had been duped, the victim approached the local police and the North Regional Cyber Cell, following which an FIR was registered. Police are now tracing the bank accounts where the money was deposited, and further investigation is underway.

The Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana launched on April 8, 2015, aims to empower non-corporate, non-farm small and micro enterprises by offering loans up to Rs 10 lakh. In the Union Budget 2024–25, the Finance Minister raised the loan limit to Rs 20 lakh, effective from October 24, 2024, to further support aspiring entrepreneurs.

–IANS

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