Dhanbad Cyber Police Arrest Madhya Pradesh Man in Rs 10.5 Lakh Digital Arrest Scam

Dhanbad: A resident of Vidisha district in Madhya Pradesh was arrested from his home by Dhanbad Cyber Police on charges of allegedly duping an elderly man of Rs 10.50 lakh by placing him under “digital arrest”, police said on Tuesday.Superintendent of Police (SP) (Rural) Kapil Chaudhary said, “Sebastian Horo (73), a resident of Ratanpur under the Tundi police station limits, lodged a complaint at the Cyber Police Station on January 8. He alleged that unidentified cybercriminals contacted him on WhatsApp video calls under the garb of the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).”“The fraudsters placed him under digital arrest after accusing him of being involved in a money laundering case. The criminals coerced him into transferring a total amount of Rs 10.50 lakh into multiple bank accounts under the pretext of clearing his name from further legal action against him,” SP Chaudhury added.Acting on the instructions of the Dhanbad senior superintendent of police (SSP), a special investigation team (SIT) was constituted under the leadership of the officer in-charge of Cyber Police Station, Ravikant Prasad.Prime accused Arun Ahirwar (26) was arrested during investigation using technical analysis, bank transaction tracking, mobile location data, and other digital evidence, SP said. “The accused opened a current account in the name of a company using forged documents, along with a savings account in his name. Out of the Rs 10.50 lakh defrauded amount, Rs 5.50 lakh was transferred to his accounts, of which Rs 5 lakh was withdrawn through cheques and distributed among his associates.”“Efforts are on to identify and arrest other members involved in the interstate cybercrime racket,” he said.A mobile phone and two SIM cards, used in the crime, were seized from the possession of the arrested accused, police added.