As SC hears digital arrest case, elderly Hyd couple loses Rs 1.5 crore | Hyderabad News

Hyderabad: Even as the Supreme Court hears a landmark suo motu case on digital arrests, an 80-year-old retired bank manager and his wife from Bowenpally have lost their entire life savings of over Rs 1.5 crore to cyber fraudsters in a digital arrest scam. Based on the couple’s complaint, Malkajgiri police registered a cheating case on Thursday.According to the police, the elderly man received a phone call on Oct 19 from fraudsters who identified themselves as Umesh Verma and RK Chaudari, claiming to represent Mumbai-based Data Protection India Limited. “They claimed my Aadhaar was linked to a mobile number involved in money laundering and anti-national activities,” the complainant told police.Subsequently, he received a WhatsApp video call from another fraudster posing as Sandeep Rao, an inspector with the Mumbai Cyber Crime branch. Rao allegedly told the victim that an FIR had been registered against him and that the CBI was handling the investigation. “I was asked to remain on a video call for interrogation and told to maintain absolute secrecy. They threatened to arrest my children if I spoke to anyone,” the victim alleged.To lend credibility to their claims, the fraudsters sent him several forged documents, including a Mumbai police case document linking the complainant to a terror-funding case, an Enforcement Directorate asset-freezing and arrest warrant dated Oct 22, a court order dated Oct 21 bearing the National Emblem, and a bogus Reserve Bank of India directive for asset verification.Threatening to arrest the complainant and his wife before 5pm on Oct 22 if they failed to cooperate, the fraudsters made the couple disclose their bank account balances. Following the accused’s instructions, the couple transferred their entire savings, amounting to over Rs 1.5 crore, through six transactions between Oct 23 and 27 to two bank accounts. “We were told that the money would be verified and returned within five days,” the victim told police.However, the accused stopped responding to the couple’s calls and messages after the final transaction. The couple finally confided in their son on Oct 28. On his advice, they lodged an online complaint and approached Malkajgiri police on Thursday.Based on their complaint, police registered a case under Sections 316(2) (criminal breach of trust), 319(2) (cheating by personation), 318(4) (cheating), 338 (forgery of valuable security or will, etc.) and 308(2) (extortion) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), besides Sections 66-C and 66-D of the Information Technology Act.