Three held for 'digital arrest' of Lucknow couple; extortion of Rs 90 lakh

Lucknow: Three persons have been arrested for allegedly duping a couple here of Rs 90 lakh by posing as Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) officers and placing them under "digital arrest", police said on Tuesday.

According to a police statement, a complainant reported that on January 26, his wife received a call from a person claiming to be "Inspector Ranjeet Kumar posted at the ATS headquarters".

The caller allegedly accused her of involvement in serious offences such as terrorism and money laundering and threatened immediate legal action and arrest. The complainant was then forced to download the Signal app, where another person identifying himself as ATS officer Ajay Pratap Srivastava contacted them.

The accused allegedly showed fake Supreme Court orders and seizure documents and convinced the couple that to avoid arrest and complete the "investigation", the money in their bank accounts had to be transferred to designated accounts for "verification".

Under fear and coercion, the complainant and his wife transferred around Rs 90 lakh through RTGS to different bank accounts between January 29 and February 9, police said.

The accused later allegedly demanded another Rs 11 lakh and when the couple expressed inability to pay, abused and threatened harm, they said.

After the matter was reported, an FIR was registered under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology Act at the Cyber Crime Police Station, Lucknow.

A team led by Cyber Crime Station in-charge Brijesh Kumar Yadav was formed to investigate the case.

The team arrested three accused -- Mayank Srivastava (24) from Gorakhpur, Irshad (23) from Ghaziabad and Manish Kumar alias Akash (24) from Delhi, the official statement said.

During interrogation, Mayank allegedly confessed that he was lured into the racket due to financial distress and was promised commission for providing his bank account. He said he was called to Delhi and made to stay at hotels in Paharganj, Chandni Chowk and later in Noida, where the accused used his mobile phone and bank credentials to route proceeds of the cyber fraud. He was allegedly paid Rs 10,000 in cash and promised Rs 2 lakh, it added.

Police said Irshad admitted to working on a three per cent commission and procuring bank accounts, cheque books and debit cards from account holders by luring them with money. Manish alias Akash allegedly handled fraudulent transactions and retained cheque books and debit cards of account holders.

Police said Rs 1.06 crore was credited to one of the accounts on February 9, and checks on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal revealed complaints from Tamil Nadu and other states linked to the transactions.

Three mobile phones, two cheque books (ICICI and HDFC banks) and one ICICI Bank debit card were recovered from the accused.

Police said the gang used the "digital arrest" modus operandi by impersonating police or central agency officials, threatening victims with arrest in fake cases, and coercing them into transferring large sums.

The money was first routed through layer accounts and later distributed among gang members in fixed commission percentages.

The police appealed to the public not to panic over so-called "digital arrest" calls, stating that there is no such legal provision in India.