CA among four held from New Delhi for ‘digital arrest’ of doc

Jaipur: Nagaur police Thursday arrested four persons from New Delhi, including a chartered accountant, for allegedly extorting Rs 34 lakh from a retired doctor through a "digital arrest" scam, officials said.Nagaur SP Roshan Meena said police arrested the accused, identified as Imran Husain (40), a resident of Brahmpuri in northeast Delhi, Vivek Kumar (35) of Karawal Nagar, New Delhi, Salman (27), also from northeast Delhi and Yogendra (39), a resident of Delhi.DSP (Cyber) Dharam Poonia said Salman, a chartered accountant, allegedly handled the siphoned money.According to police, the retired doctor filed an FIR on Jan 21, stating that he received a call from fraudsters posing as police officials from Bengaluru. The callers accused him of involvement in human trafficking and sending obscene messages to women, claiming that a case had been registered against him.They then placed the victim under a so-called "digital arrest" through a video call, intimidating and threatening him. Acting under fear and panic, the doctor prematurely broke his fixed deposit of Rs 34 lakh and transferred the amount into bank accounts controlled by the accused.Poonia said the investigation revealed that the bank accounts used in the fraud were based in New Delhi, following which two police teams were dispatched to trace and apprehend the suspects.Police said the complainant, a resident of Gotan in Nagaur, filed the FIR after realising that he had fallen victim to the cyber fraud.In his FIR, the victim alleged that he was deceived through forged electronic records made to appear genuine. A case was registered at the cyber police station under multiple sections of the BNS and the IT Act.During the probe, police found that the accused allegedly opened bank accounts and shell firms in their own names and sold these to other cyber criminals, facilitating digital arrest scams, investment frauds, and similar offences.Police said over Rs 5 lakh out of the defrauded Rs 34 lakh has been put on hold, and further investigation is underway.