Over 2,000 Duped, Loans Taken Using Victims’ Documents; No Arrests Yet

A shocking case of fraud has come to light in which three conmen duped nearly 2,000 people by luring them with promises of part-time and work-from-home jobs. Victims, mostly students and unemployed youth, were tricked into sharing their personal documents, which were later misused to take loans from various banks.

The accused have been identified as Akash Devidas Shinde, Rohit Domodar and Amat Gorakh Sarak, residents of Swargate, Pune.

What is the case?

A company named Shushko Unicorn Pvt. Ltd., operating from an office near Nataraj Hotel in Swargate, allegedly duped several individuals under the pretext of providing jobs and electric bikes. The accused reportedly used forged recruitment methods and misused personal documents to fraudulently secure loans in the victims’ names.

Initially, a complaint was filed at Swargate Police Station by a victim named Poojan Chandrasekhar Godbole in January 2025.

In the FIR, Godbole mentioned that he was lured through a Facebook advertisement that offered multiple job openings, including HR promoters, telecallers and back-office executives. When he contacted the number mentioned in the ad, he was asked to come for an interview at the said office.

At the office, a woman named Avantika Deshmukh conducted the interview and claimed that the company manufactures electric vehicles.

Godbole said that the victims were promised an electric bike free of cost and commission-based salaries if they helped recruit more candidates. The complainant was also shown electric bikes and a training hall to gain trust.

After joining, the complainant and others were asked to submit Aadhaar, PAN, electricity bills and three months of bank statements. These documents were then used to fraudulently apply for electric vehicle loans through Monado Finance Pvt. Ltd. without the victims’ proper consent.

The accused allegedly trained the victims to falsely confirm employment and salary details when contacted by the finance company.

According to the complaint, loans ranging from ₹1.08 lakh to ₹1.20 lakh were fraudulently sanctioned in the names of multiple victims.

After receiving loan confirmations and email notifications demanding monthly EMIs of ₹8,462 each, they realised they had been cheated. Upon revisiting the office to seek clarification and an NOC, they found it shut and the accused unreachable.

Another victim, Mahesh Dhule, a native of Dhule and an MPSC aspirant, speaking to The Free Press Journal, said, “We got to know about the scam when I applied for an education loan. I found that my CIBIL score is not good due to the unpaid EMI of a loan that was taken out by the scammers. Despite arresting the goons, the police are asking us questions. This is a big scam; police need to arrest the goons.”

Akshay Jain, General Secretary of the Maharashtra Youth Congress, speaking to FPJ, said, “Victims are innocent. They were lured under the pretext of job offers. 50 per cent of the victims belong to Pune, while the rest are from different parts of the state.”

Interestingly, the scam involved crores of rupees, as more than 2,000 needy people were lured. However, the Swargate police mentioned only a ₹5 lakh scam in the FIR and did not investigate thoroughly. Moreover, despite being aware of the accused’s names and addresses, police failed to seize the accused’s accounts.

Now, it has been more than seven months since the FIR was filed. Swargate police have transferred the case to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) for further investigation. Now the question arises: what has been done in the last seven months? Will the accused be arrested?