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The caller introduced himself as a CBI officer and accused the man of being involved in a money-laundering case
A former MLA in Karnataka’s Bidar district lost Rs 31 lakh in ‘digital arrest’.
A former MLA in Karnataka’s Bidar district has become the latest victim of “digital arrest”, losing Rs 31 lakh from August 12 to 19.
According to the complaint filed by the former MLA of Aurad constituency with Cyber Crime police on September 6, the fraudsters had called him at around 6pm on August 12 from mobile number 8464988135.
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The caller introduced himself as a CBI officer and accused him of being involved in money-laundering and found bank accounts in his name and debit cards which came to light during a raid on Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal, Times of India reported.
The officer informed him that a case was registered against him in Mumbai and he would soon be arrested. Though the victim suspected it to be a fraud call but the fraudster convinced him that he was a probe officer.
When the victim pleaded innocence, “the fraudster collected my biography and property details,” he told police in the complaint. Following this, the fraudster told him the call would be transferred to Neeraj Kumar, a deputy commissioner of police.
When the victim sought exemption from the probe, Neeraj told him considering his “age and background”, they would conduct a virtual investigation and put him under “digital arrest” while warning him against informing anyone about the call as the case was highly sensitive TOI reported.
The complainant further stated that the fraudsters even flashed their ID cards, arrest warrant and copy of the case registered against him. During the video call, the fraudsters showed a setup looking like a police station.
The victim said that at around 1pm the next day, the fraudsters produced him before a “judge” via video call. After hearing arguments by police and the victim, the judge ordered him to write an undertaking stating that he was not guilty and then asked him to transfer Rs 10 lakh through RTGS to a bank account as told by the police officers.
Though he followed the judge’s instruction, the officers – Neeraj Kumar and Sandeep Kumar – continued to interrogate him and collected details of his family members, their bank accounts, and other personal details.
Four days later, the victim was again produced before the judge via video call and the latter directed him to transfer Rs 20 lakh as deposit so the Directorate of Enforcement and CBI could investigate his properties and bank accounts and assured him “to return the money to his account after verification”. He transferred the amount to another account number as told by the police on August 18 through RTGS.
It was days later after the last transfer that he finally realised that the whole incident was fraud and he informed his family and the police, the complainant said.
On the basis of the complaint, the police have registered a case of cheating and impersonation under Information Technology Act and BNS 318 and 319.
Karnataka, India, India
September 09, 2025, 08:54 IST
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