Senior citizen from Navi Mumbai put under digital arrest for 9 hours, conned of Rs 1.5 crore over alleged links to Delhi blast in 2025

Navi Mumbai: A 62-year-old senior citizen from Panvel was defrauded of Rs 1.5 crore by a fraudster posing as an ATS officer who placed him under digital arrest for nine days by claiming the victim was linked to the Delhi bomb blast last year and the NIA had registered a case against him. Vinayak Deshmukh, a retired market assistant, lodged a complaint and an FIR was registered on Wednesday. The unidentified accused has been booked under the BNS and the IT Act.As per the FIR, on March 23, Deshmukh received a WhatsApp video call from a number with the Cambodia country code. The caller claimed he was from Delhi headquarters, and told him NIA had registered a case against Deshmukh for his links to the Delhi bomb blast last year. The caller said that one‘Dr Sahani' had procured a mobile SIM card in Deshmukh's name and used it to open a bank account which is linked with Deshmukh's Aadhaar card, KYC details and email ID. The caller claimed that Rs 2.7 crore was transferred to that account, and the NIA suspected terror funding. As part of probe, Deshmukh was made to download 'Signal' app. Deshmukh was told he was under digital arrest and the next day, he was made to provide details of his bank account, property, gold ornaments and other investments on the app.Deshmukh was made to transfer Rs 1.5 crore to several bank accounts to get out of the case. The caller told him that after verification, the amount would be returned to his bank account. On March 30, Deshmukh got a video call from a mobile number with India's country code and the caller told Deshmukh that his papers had been emailed to Panvel police station. While Deshmukh was on the way to collect it, the fraudster called again and told the victim that all documents had been sent to his residence by speed post. When Deshmukh tried to contact the caller, his mobile was switched off which made him realise that he was cheated.