Retd engineer defies digi arrest threat & goes to cops when asked to pay 28L
Times of India | 31 January 2026
Howrah: A 72-year-old retired assistant engineer of Kolkata Municipal Corporation who had been under digital arrest for eight days, and in danger of losing his life's savings of Rs 28 lakh, managed to escape by the skin of his teeth when he overcame threats and fear to report the matter to police.
The elderly man sensed something amiss when the swindlers asked for money and instead of yielding to threats, he set an example by seeking help from police.
An officer of Howrah City Police said the resident of Malipachghara received a video call from an unknown number on Jan 20 evening. The caller claimed he was Vishal Kumar, a senior officer of Mumbai Police Crime Branch, and asked the retired engineer's name, age, profession and address.
The caller then accused him of being involved in a fraud in which large sums of money had been swindled using his mobile number. The caller threatened that Supreme Court would issue an arrest warrant against him and plainclothesmen would be at his doorstep to pick him up if he did not contact Mumbai Police Crime Branch within two hours.
The caller warned the retired engineer against approaching the local police, as the case was "pending in SC" and being "probed by CBI".
Frightened, the man said he had high blood pressure and diabetes, could not travel alone and only his sick wife was at home with him. The caller then told him he would receive a call from a CBI officer named Anurag Thakur the next morning.
A series of calls came till Jan 27 night, during which a person claiming to be an SC judge interrogated and threatened him. The scammers asked the man to transfer his entire savings of Rs 28 lakh to a bank account by Jan 28 morning. He was assured that the money would be returned after verification.
It was only when the swindlers demanded money that the former KMC employee became suspicious. He approached Malipachghara police station and reported in detail what went through.
An officer said that after receiving the complaint, they immediately asked the three nationalised banks where the man has accounts to halt payments, deactivated payment apps on his phone, started tracing the number from which the calls came and advised him to change his SIM card. He was assured that all his deposits were safe.
Howrah City Police deputy commissioner Biswa Chand Thakur urged people to do what the senior citizen had done if they receive such calls.