‘Digitally arrested’, 76-year-old retired Air Force officer duped of Rs 1.7 crore
Telegraph | 28 February 2025
A 27-year-old man has been arrested in Gujarat for allegedly duping a 76-year-old retired Air Force officer in New Town of ₹1.7 crore by placing him under the fear of a “digital arrest”.
The septuagenarian was detained over a video call for 72 hours at a stretch.
A part of the siphoned money — ₹15 lakh — has been recovered, police said on Thursday.
Bidhannagar Police said earlier this month, the complainant had received a call from an unknown number where the caller introduced himself as an official of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and informed him that his mobile number was about to be blocked in the next two hours.
“After convincing the complainant that his mobile phone was about to be blocked, the call was forwarded to another person who said he was from the Bombay Andheri police station,” said an officer.
This person, cops said, told the complainant that he was a suspect in a money laundering case and that there was a pending arrest warrant against him.
“The complainant was convinced that there was a police case pending against him. To add to his fright, the fraudsters started sending him forged legal documents declaring his digital arrest over the phone,” the officer said.
Scared that cops would arrest him, the elderly man started transferring money into accounts provided by the fraudsters hoping it would free him from the “legal entangle”.
The police said the complainant transferred ₹1,74,10,500 to the given account through four different transactions after breaking his bank fixed deposits.
Much later, he realised the fraud and reported it to the cyber police station of Bidhannagar city police.
During the investigation, the police said they found the accused person purchased gold worth ₹25 lakh using a part of the siphoned amount.
Tracking the accused through the bank account and the phone number attached to it, cops arrested him from Surat in Gujarat on February 23.
The police identified him as Gondaliya Dipen Vinodbhai, 27, of Jahangirpura, Surat.
The mobile phone that was allegedly used for the “operation” and the debit cards used for making the online purchases from the siphoned money have been seized from him, the police said.
Vinodbhai has been remanded in police custody for eight days.
Investigators said they have been able to freeze ₹15 lakh lying in different bank accounts and suspected to be the proceeds of the crime.