Kolkata Police arrests key suspect in digital fraud case involving fake narcotics officers
Times of India | 26 March 2025
Kolkata: Probing a digital arrest fraud case, where conmen posing as Mumbai Police narcotics department officers robbed Rs 80 lakhs from a Rajarhat businessman keeping him under video call watch for three days seven months ago, Bidhannagar Police on Tuesday arrested Md Amir from Lodhipura in Rajasthan.
Amir was produced before a Rajasthan court and is now being brought back to Kolkata, police said. According to the cops, the victim had received a call in August last year, where he was told that a parcel bearing his name was intercepted by the narcotics department. It had suspicious objects and was on its way to Cambodia, they claimed.
"The man was kept under digital arrest and he paid Rs 50 lakhs on the first day. The next day, he was told his name also cropped up in an aviation scam, and the conmen demanded another Rs 30 lakhs. He took a personal loan and transferred the amount the next day," said a senior officer of Bidhannagar City Police.
The man realised he was conned only a month later and lodged a complaint with Narayanpur Police Station. Investigators followed the money trail, which revealed that the money was initially transferred to a private bank account in Park Street, from where it was transferred to multiple accounts spread across India, making tracking difficult.
Further investigations confirmed that the syndicate's key operations were based in Kolkata, with fake addresses and forged documents used to facilitate the crime. Md Amir, believed to be one of the masterminds of the nationwide cyber scam, was traced by cops at Nagur in Rajasthan, and a team of officers raided multiple places in Rajasthan before he was finally arrested.
Police are now working to uncover more links and potential accomplices of Amir.