Supreme Court terms siphoning of over Rs 54,000 crore by digital fraud 'dacoity', asks Centre to frame SoP

The Supreme Court on Monday said that over Rs 54,000 crore siphoned off by digital frauds and called this 'absolutely robbery or dacoity'.

The top court sought timely actions from RBI, banks on digital fraud.

"It may be due to collusion or negligence of bank officials," the bench said.

The bench also ordered that a draft MoU be framed by inter-departmental agencies in four weeks to effectively deal with digital frauds.

The court noted that the RBI crafted a SOP prescribing action by banks to temporary put debit cards on hold to prevent cyber-enabled frauds.

"We direct Centre to formally adopt, implement RBI's SoP across India for inter-agency coordination in dealing with digital frauds. We also direct CBI to identify digital arrest cases," the court said.

It asked Gujarat, Delhi governments to accord sanction for probes in identified matters.

SC asks RBI, DoT and others to jointly hold a meeting to come up with framework for compensation in digital arrest cases.

SC says pragmatic, liberal approach is needed to deal with award of compensation to digital arrest victims.