Ahmedabad: A major breakthrough has been made in a multi-state cyber fraud case after Ahmedabad Cyber Crime arrested Bhavnagar district NSUI president Arshmaan Khan Zoravar Khan Shuk (Baluch), who allegedly supplied bank accounts to an international cybercrime syndicate and earned heavy commissions through hawala transactions. The arrest came during the investigation of a complaint in which an Ahmedabad resident was duped of ₹50.50 lakh after being added to a fake WhatsApp investment group titled “107 Franklin Templeton Investment Strategy”. Individuals operating under the names Felicity Walsh, Jeff Mason and Franklin Templeton (B-HNI) convinced the victim to download a fraudulent app called FPIWM and invest in supposed IPO and stock opportunities. The victim transferred over fifty lakh rupees into several bank accounts, of which only ₹3 lakh was returned.

As police traced the money trail, they discovered that ₹2,99,000 had been deposited in an HDFC Bank account belonging to Vaidic Bhoginnalal Jashubhai. He told investigators that he had issued a cheque to one Juned Makufbhai, who in turn stated that he handed the money to Arshmaan through the angadia route. This led the police to Bhavnagar, where Arshmaan was located and arrested. He runs a construction and gold trading business and is known in political circles as the Bhavnagar district NSUI president and a former aspirant for a key Youth Congress post.

Further investigation revealed that Arshmaan had deep connections with an international cybercrime network based in Dubai and China. He had travelled to Dubai recently, during which he reportedly established contact with the syndicate. Since then, he had been providing the gang with multiple local bank accounts and facilitating the movement of fraudulently obtained funds. Police say he supplied documents for 11 bank accounts belonging to various individuals, through which crores of rupees flowed. Whenever money entered these accounts, he would collect the cash through angadia operators and retain 25 percent as commission before sending the remaining amount to the overseas handlers. The modus operandi also included converting some of the funds into cryptocurrency before transferring them to the foreign gang.

The scale of the fraud became clearer as investigators found that Arshmaan had received around ₹1.5 crore via angadia in similar scams. His involvement has surfaced in 27 cybercrime complaints filed across Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Police also seized significant assets accumulated from the proceeds of crime, including multiple luxury vehicles such as a BMW, Fortuner, Thar and Innova, along with evidence of large property investments made in recent months.

According to police, the accused had built considerable local influence, and people in his area were reportedly afraid of him. He also has two previous cases registered against him at Paritana Town Police Station and Lodhpura City Cyber Crime Police Station. Investigators are now probing how long he had been part of the network, how the funds were converted into crypto assets and the exact channels through which the money was transferred abroad. More arrests are likely as the probe expands to track the wider syndicate operating behind the scam.