A SENIOR citizen was cheated of more than Rs 62 lakh after his demat trading account was fraudulently manipulated by former and current employees of a reputed brokerage firm based in Malad, Mumbai.

The scam came to light on July 24, when the victim, Jayesh Shamjibhai Patel, a Borivli East resident who has been trading since 2018, visited the company office to update his KYC (Know Your Customer) details. He was surprised to learn that his KYC had already been updated earlier that month.

When company staff checked the system, they discovered that Patel’s bank account, mobile number, and email ID had been fraudulently altered. His registered Bank of Baroda (Goregaon branch) account had been replaced with that of the State Bank of India (Satara branch).

Subsequently, between June 5 and July 4, a total of R62,33,491 was siphoned off in seven transactions from the company’s HDFC Bank account to the fraudulently linked SBI account.

Following a complaint filed by Bharat Nanubhai Shiroya, 55, director of Comfort Securities, under the guidance of DCP Sandeep Jadhav and Senior Inspector Dushyant Chauhan, Police Inspector Manoj Patil, API Amol Shinde, and Constable Tausif Shaikh launched a probe and arrested four men. The accused were identified as Omkar Chetiyar, 35, a former employee of the brokerage firm and the alleged mastermind; Gopal Madvi, 44, an employee accused of forging KYC documents and producing fake papers; Yogesh Indalkar, 44, a cricket coach and friend of Omkar, who opened a bogus bank account in Satara and later sold it to Omkar after pocketing R2.7 lakh; and Vijay Pawar, 41, a security guard from Chembur, who allegedly helped procure a new mobile number and assisted Omkar in opening bank accounts. The police said Pawar received R60,000 from the fraudulent amount.

“The modifications were made on May 29 and 30, 2025, without following mandatory KYC procedures.

The accused were nabbed from Satara, Navi Mumbai, and Palghar. Investigators revealed that forged PAN, Aadhaar, and bank cheque copies were used to alter Patel’s KYC. Patel has denied ever providing these documents, said an officer from Malad police station.

Comfort Securities, established in 2002 and a member of the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange since 2007, caters to nearly 10,000 clients with trading and demat services.

“The investigation has revealed that Madvi and Chetiyar hatched a plan to commit fraud. They targeted accounts that were non-operational and belonged to senior citizens,” said a police officer.

So far, the police have found that apart from the complainant, another person’s account was also defrauded, and details of that are being obtained.

Chetiyar used Indalkar’s bank account. Indalkar was once a cricketer and later became a coach in Mumbai before eventually settling in Satara when things did not work out. There, he coached players and also umpired matches.

Pawar and Chetiyar were old friends who lived together in Chembur. Pawar had provided the mobile number used in the fraudulent account.

In the KYC documents submitted, the cheque originally had Indalkar’s name printed on it, but that name was erased and replaced with the senior citizen’s name, which was then submitted by Madvi in the company as KYC proof,” the officer added

“All the accused were produced before the court and remanded in police custody,” said another officer.

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