5 more held in Rs 2.5 cr digital arrest case

The Cyber Crime Police have arrested five more persons involved in the Rs 2.5 crore digital arrest cyber fraud case, bringing the total number of arrests to eight.

The fresh arrests have been made in continuation of FIR registered on June 1. Complainant Sumit Kaur, a resident of Sector 10A, had received a phone call on May 3 allegedly from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, informing her that her SIM had been misused and an FIR had been lodged against her.

What followed was a series of coercive WhatsApp video calls from a man impersonating a police officer named Vijay Khanna. He falsely informed her of two arrest warrants issued in her name in a fabricated money laundering case involving the CEO of Jet Airways. The fraudsters impersonated as senior officials and manipulating her into transferring about Rs 2.5 crore to multiple bank accounts under the guise of fund verification.

Those arrested include Manish Jaiswal (44), who operated a Bandhan Bank account in Varanasi. It was in his account Rs 20 lakh was deposited by the victim. During the interrogation, Jaiswal admitted to having entered the racket through an acquaintance in Jaipur and later coordinated with unknown individuals in Assam. He passed on bank account details to Chitransh (32), who had been introduced to the scam by Prince (28). Prince, in turn, was lured into the operation by Jubbar Ali (37), who offered him a 20% commission per transaction. Jubbar Ali and his associate Mohd Ajit Ullah (46) travelled from Assam to Varanasi to facilitate further operations.

Chandigarh