Delhi ‘digital arrest': Man sells wife's jewellery, uses up savings to pay Rs 25 lakh
On March 21, Mahender Jain, a resident of Southwest Delhi's Palam, allegedly got a video call from a man claiming to be an inspector with the Crime Branch unit of Nashik police in Maharashtra. The caller accused Jain of being involved in a money laundering scam, placed him under digital arrest and compelled him to transfer Rs 25 lakh online. Jain used all the money from his savings and fixed deposits. He allegedly sold his wife's jewellery. Then he transferred some money through an online payment gateway and sent some through his bank account.
On Monday, police said they arrested three persons — Rahul Verma, Shantanu Richoriya (26), and Arjun Singh (25) — for their alleged involvement in the fraud.
The suspects operated from hotel rooms in Delhi and worked with account holders, commonly known as 'mules', who were brought in person to facilitate transactions, an official said.
'The caller informed Jain that his Aadhaar Card details had been misused to open fraudulent bank accounts. He alleged it was being used for money laundering by the owner of a big airline company. The caller then threatened police action against Jain and said his assets had to be verified,' DCP Surendra Chaudhary said.
Police traced the bank accounts to which the money was transferred. These were being operated from a hotel in Paharganj. A raid was conducted, and the three accused were arrested.
'During questioning, it was found that Rahul Verma initially supplied his bank account to other accused but later became an active part of the syndicate,' a senior police officer said.
'The accused used to facilitate and handle the mule account holders in Delhi and contacted international operators through WhatsApp to hoodwink law-enforcement agencies and further transferred duped money in those accounts,' DCP Chaudhary said.
So far, seven to eight mule accounts have been identified as part of the network, officials said, adding that three mobile phones, four SIM cards, three cheque books, and four passbooks linked to seven different banks were recovered from them.
Digital arrest is a tactic where the accused pose as police or law enforcement agency officials, like CBI or customs officials, and threaten people with arrest.
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