In a major breakthrough, the Pune Police said today that they have arrested seven accused in the case in which Serum Institute of India (SII) was cheated of over ₹ 1.01 crore.
As per the complaint, Satish Deshpande, one of the directors at the Serum Institute of India or SII had received a message on WhatsApp from a person posing as SII CEO Adar Poonawalla and was asked to send money into seven different accounts in September 2022.
Believing the message was from Adar Poonawala, Satish Deshpande transferred ₹ 1.01 crore into those accounts, only to realise later that the company had been cheated.
A complaint in this regard was registered and during the investigation, police zeroed in on the eight accounts to which the money was transferred.”It has been revealed the money was transferred into the accounts of these seven people who have now been arrested from different parts of the country. However, the main accused is still missing” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Smartana Patil (Zone II).
She added that they had seized all these accounts and 40 others in which the funds were further transferred from these eight accounts.