Bhubaneswar, April 24 (IANS) The Crime Branch of Odisha Police has arrested a 56-year-old man from Delhi in connection with an online investment fraud case in which cybercriminals allegedly duped a businessman of Rs 2.06 crore through a fake trading platform.

The accused, identified as Vinay Kumar Sharma, a resident of the Janakpuri area in West Delhi, runs an electronics shop in the national capital. Sharma is being brought to Odisha on transit remand and will be produced before the SDJM court in Bhubaneswar on Friday.

Crime Branch sources said the Bhubaneswar-based businessman was first contacted by fraudsters via WhatsApp on December 23, 2024, and was later added to a group.

The fraudsters, posing as financial experts, falsely introduced one of them as a fund manager of a reputed company and lured him with promises of high returns. To gain his trust, the cybercriminals regularly shared free stock market tips and daily technical analysis of NIFTY in the group.

“Believing the representations to be genuine, the complainant transferred a total amount of Rs 2,06,07,500 from his three different bank accounts to five different beneficiary accounts through 54 transactions during the period from December 23, 2024, to March 24, 2025, as directed by the fraudsters,” the Crime Branch said in a press statement.

It added that when the victim tried to withdraw the promised investment returns, the fraudsters, posing as the “risk control team”, repeatedly refused to release the funds on various false pretexts.

Realising that he had been cheated in a well-orchestrated cyber fraud, the businessman filed an FIR at the Cyber Crime Police Station of the Crime Branch on March 28, 2025.

Following the money trail and other evidence, Crime Branch sleuths arrested Sharma on the night of April 22 in Delhi. He is suspected to have received a significant portion of the defrauded amount.

Notably, another accused in the case was arrested by Crime Branch sleuths from Bihar in February this year.

–IANS

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