77-yr-old Salt Lake woman loses Rs1.2cr in digital arrest scam
Times of India | 2 December 2025
Kolkata: A 77-year-old resident of Salt Lake was trapped in a four-day "digital arrest" and cheated out of Rs 1.2 crore by men posing as narcotics department officials in Mumbai, who claimed that her phone number had been used in money laundering by associates of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi.
The victim, Purabi Sadhu, lives alone in her HC Block flat. Her husband is no more and only son settled in the US.
Police said she was terrorised through continuous video calls between Nov 14 and 17, forcing her to empty her savings, withdraw her investments in a mutual fund and transfer the money to the accounts mentioned by the gang. She realised she had been duped only after she confided in a relative more than a week later.
Sadhu lodged a complaint on Nov 29.
Officers of Bidhannagar Police said the swindlers first contacted her on Nov 14. A caller identifying himself as ‘Inspector Vijay' from Mumbai Police Narcotics Control Bureau told Sadhu she was an accused in a case of money laundering involving Rs 770 crore and that her phone number had been used by the Bishnoi gang.
She was warned that speaking to anyone — including family members — would immediately result in her arrest and custodial interrogation.
Over the next three days, she received video calls from men claiming to be senior officers from various departments for ‘digital interrogation' from at least four numbers.
"They showed her forged documents, fabricated screenshots and what they claimed were confidential investigation files to convince her that a Mumbai bank account in her name had been used to funnel extortion money," a police officer said. The woman obeyed the gang's instructions. She stayed confined in her home, cut off from relatives, and made several transfers from her two bank accounts. She also liquidated a mutual fund after the fraudsters told her that ‘National Security Verification' required her complete financial compliance.
They threatened her with arrest under the Anti-Money Laundering Act. She was told that she would get back the money following verification by RBI. She narrated her ordeal to a relative, who urged her to approach police. An FIR had been registered and probe is on. Sadhu fell ill following the trauma and some relatives are now staying with her, police said. "She lived alone and had her entire savings in two accounts. She has lost everything," the officer said.