Man loses Rs 1.3 crore in digital arrest fraud; interstate cyber crooks gang busted, suspects held

Indore: Ratlam police busted an interstate syndicate that allegedly swindled Rs 1.34 crore from a complainant over nearly one month using fear, pressure and a carefully scripted drama.Ratlam SP Amit Kumar said that the victim first received a call on Nov 15 from a person claiming to be an officer from the Mumbai crime branch."He was warned that a SIM issued in his name was used in a massive fraud and that a bank account linked with his Aadhaar and other documents saw money laundering to the tune of Rs 247 crore. When the complainant denied any role, he was threatened with an arrest warrant and immediate detention," said SP Kumar.He added that the complainant was kept constantly engaged over WhatsApp and later on the Signal app. During video calls, a mock courtroom setup with a judge, lawyers and supposed witnesses was shown to make the threat look genuine. Under fear of arrest, the complainant was asked to share property and bank details and was gradually made to transfer large sums of money. Between Nov 15 and Dec 12, the accused allegedly extracted Rs 1.34 crore.Days after when the victim lost all his life savings, he realised that he had been defrauded. He contacted one of his relatives and lodged an e-FIR at Deendayal Nagar police station. Given the seriousness of the case, a special investigation team of 18 officers was formed. The team tracked the financial trail across states. In Jabalpur, police arrested Ashok Jayswal,61, Sunny Jayswal, 34 and Shanu Tiwari, 18 along with a child in conflict with law. They allegedly routed Rs 14 lakh from the complainant's money through their bank accounts.Another Rs 14 lakh was traced to the account of Pawan Kumawat, 23, from Neemuch district. He was also arrested. In Uttar Pradesh, Amarendra Maurya, 34, who runs an NGO, was arrested after suspicious transactions of Rs 50 lakh were detected in his account. Four accused — Arif Ghata, Hamid Khan Pathan, Shahid Qureshi and Sadiq Hasan Sama — were arrested from Gujarat. Investigators believe part of the siphoned funds was diverted into cryptocurrency trades, yielding illegal profit of around Rs 5 lakh.A police team was also sent to Bihar in search of remaining suspects, while further arrests were pursued in Gujarat.