CBI nabs three people in ₹2.07 cr digital arrest scam

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested three people in connection with a Rs 2.07 crore digital arrest scam following searches at seven locations in Odisha and Rajasthan on June 30.

The agency registered the case on June 25 on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The victim, a retired public servant, was allegedly coerced into transferring ₹2.07 crore under the threat of a digital arrest, the CBI said in a statement on Friday.

The investigation found that the defrauded money was routed into a bank account opened in the name of a trust. Two of the accused were arrested in Balasore, Odisha, and the third in Nagaur, Rajasthan. According to CBI, they were involved in layering and transferring the proceeds of crime through multiple bank accounts. The arrested are Bibekananda Dixit and Jayant Kumar Acharya of Balasore and Kanhaiya Lal of Nagaur.


Last week, under Operation Chakra-VI, the CBI carried out searches at more than 80 locations across 16 states as part of a crackdown on the cybercrime network facilitating digital arrest scams.

The agency had constituted 60 special teams to conduct coordinated searches in Punjab, Gujarat, Delhi, Maharashtra, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Assam, West Bengal, Manipur, Karnataka and Odisha.