The Cyber Crime Police of Chandigarh have arrested two men from Maharashtra for allegedly cheating a city woman of more than Rs 77 lakh in a “digital arrest” scam.
The accused have been identified as Sajid Ahmed A Patel, aged 30, and Shayeed Rafiq Mullah, aged 37. Both have been booked under an FIR registered on July 15 at the Cyber Crime Police Station in Chandigarh.
According to the complaint, the victim received a phone call on July 10 from a person pretending to be an official of the crime branch. The caller falsely claimed that her Aadhaar card had been misused in a money laundering case linked to Jet Airways Chief Executive Officer Naresh Goyal. Working with others posing as police officers, the fraudster threatened her with fake arrest warrants and forged Supreme Court orders shared over WhatsApp calls. Out of fear for her own safety and that of her family, the woman transferred a total of Rs 77,42,420 through four RTGS transactions from her accounts in Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India, and HDFC Bank.
Police tracked the money trail using bank KYC records and telecom data, which revealed Patel’s involvement. On August 14, a police team conducted raids in Maharashtra, leading to Patel’s arrest. Officers recovered a Vivo mobile phone with SIM cards, a PAN card, and an SBI ATM card during the operation.
Following his disclosure, police also arrested Shayeed Mullah. From him, the team seized two Samsung Fold 5 phones, an Oppo phone, Aadhaar and PAN cards, a Federal Bank ATM card, and a driving licence.
Investigations have so far secured a lien amount of Rs 20,16,300 from the accused persons’ bank accounts. Authorities have sought custody of the accused for forensic analysis of the recovered devices in order to identify and dismantle the larger network involved in the crime.
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