1.2 crore lost in digital arrest, ex-babu dies of shock

PUNE: An 82-year-old retired Maharashtra govt officer who lost his life's savings of Rs 1.19 crore to a "digital arrest" fraud collapsed and died of suspected shock after brooding over it for days, his 80-year-old wife told investigators from Pune cyber police.

The scam ran from Augustr 16 to September 17, with callers claiming to be from Mumbai police and CBI telling the couple from Pune's Vishrantwadi that their bank accounts and Aadhaar numbers had been used in a money laundering case involving an airline owner.

A man identifying himself as an IPS officer deputed to CBI said the couple faced either "home arrest" or "jail arrest" in the case. The fraudster and his gang ordered them to switch on their phone camera and monitored them for three days, extracting bank and Aadhaar details while pretending to interrogate them about the fabricated case.

The wife filed a complaint last Tuesday, less than a week after her husband collapsed and died following hospitalisation on Oct 22. Senior inspector Swapnali Shinde of Pune Cyber police confirmed the sequence of events.

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