Mumbai, September 17, 2026: The Mumbai Cyber Police have busted an interstate gang allegedly involved in a Rs 1.12-crore digital arrest scam targeting a 68-year-old retired businessman from Dahisar.
Six persons have been arrested in connection with the case, including an IIT Delhi alumnus who works as a web developer and an operations manager of a private bank, police said.
Victim Threatened With Arrest
According to the police, the victim received a call from an unknown person sometime between July and August. The caller allegedly posed as an officer of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and claimed that the victim’s identity documents had been misused and that a money laundering case had been registered against him in Delhi.
The accused subsequently allegedly introduced another person, who identified himself as a police officer named “Vijay Khanna”, and contacted the victim through WhatsApp video calls.
The fraudsters allegedly sent him forged legal documents bearing police logos and references to the Supreme Court of India to create fear and convince him that he was facing arrest.
The victim was allegedly threatened that if he informed his family, all the members would be arrested. He was consequently kept under “digital arrest” at his home for nearly two weeks, during which the accused allegedly demanded his location every two hours.
Rs 1.12 Crore Transferred
The fraudsters allegedly obtained details of his bank accounts and fixed deposits and forced him to transfer approximately Rs 1.12 crore to various bank accounts.
The fraud came to light after the victim’s daughter learned about the incident, following which the family approached the cybercrime helpline and lodged a complaint.
Police Trace Financial Trail
After a case was registered at the North Cyber Police Station, a team headed by Senior Inspector Pramod Kamble and Inspector Sunil Lokhande, under the supervision of DCP Bajrang Bansode, began tracing the financial transactions.
During the investigation, police allegedly found that a major portion of the defrauded money had been transferred to the bank account of a gold trading company.
The SIM cards linked to the account were allegedly being handled by accused Tariq Momin, who is suspected of arranging and operating mule bank accounts, police said. The company’s director, Rakesh Jain, was also arrested.
Police said accused Chintan Desai travelled from Mumbai to Delhi and subsequently to Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh using a phone containing a SIM card registered in Jain’s name. Investigators suspect that cash withdrawals and transfers of the fraud proceeds to other accounts were carried out from Bijnor.
IIT Delhi Graduate Among Accused
Another accused, Gohel, is an IIT Delhi graduate and works as a web developer, according to the police. He had also allegedly been booked in a cheating case registered at Bandra Police Station in 2021. The six arrested accused have been identified as Tariq Momin, Rakesh Jain, Chintan Desai, Tyagi, Gohel and Ajay Sharma.
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Police said the accused allegedly played different roles in receiving the illicit funds, arranging and operating mule accounts and transferring or disposing of the money. The investigation is underway to trace the remaining financial trail and identify other persons linked to the interstate network.
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