Retired scientist duped of Rs 1.29 crore in 'digital arrest' scam; 2 arrested

A retired scientist from Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly was kept under ‘digital arrest’ for three days and defrauded of Rs 1.29 crore by cybercriminals posing as CBI officers, police said on Sunday. Two members of the gang were arrested in connection with the case.

The victim, Dr Shukdev Nandi, a former scientist with the Indian Veterinary Research Institute, was targeted through WhatsApp calls by imposters who threatened him and forced him to transfer large sums of money to multiple accounts over a span of three days.

The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) arrested Pradeep Kumar Singh (50) and Mahfooz (21) from Lucknow. Authorities recovered two mobile phones, PAN and Aadhaar cards, and documents related to cryptocurrency wallets from their possession.

According to police, Singh is the director of a private firm and had opened a corporate bank account in the company’s name at ICICI Bank. This account was used to receive the Rs 1.29 crore extorted from Dr Nandi.

During questioning, Singh admitted to distributing the money within the gang and receiving commissions in USDT (cryptocurrency) through the Binance app, police said. He claimed to have earned 871 USDT so far.

Mahfooz confessed he had opened a bank account on the instructions of an associate in exchange for commission and handed over the ATM card and SIM card to the gang. Around Rs 9 lakh linked to the fraud was deposited into his account.

A case of cheating and extortion has been lodged at the Cyber Crime Police Station in Bareilly under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 66D of the IT Act.

The arrests follow an earlier crackdown on July 5, when four members of the same gang were caught. Authorities are now investigating other bank accounts, crypto wallets, and additional gang members.

- Ends