PIONEER NEWS SERVICE } Dehradun
The police arrested two Madhya Pradesh residents for defrauding an elderly man of Lamgarh, Almora district by keeping him under digital arrest for five days and scamming him of Rs 7.2 lakh. Both accused reportedly posed as officers of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and consistently engaged on a video call from January 13 to 17, warning him not to speak to anyone and claiming he was under investigation for money laundering,
Almora senior superintendent of police Devendra Pincha said. He informed that the scammers told the victim that his Aadhaar and PAN were linked to a suspicious bank account and that he will be digitally arrested while his case was verified. They instructed him to transfer money to specific bank accounts as part of a verification process. “Fearing arrest or worse, the victim complied and transferred Rs 7.2 lakh in three separate installments. When the accused stopped responding and the promised refund did not materialise, the victim filed a complaint at Lamgarh police station on February 21,” he said. “After tracking operations and intelligence gathering, the joint police team located and arrested the accused in Khargone, Madhya Pradesh,” he said.
Pincha further stated that the arrested individuals have been identified as Santosh Gurjar (31) and Kapil Soni (49) of Khargone district. Police are continuing efforts to identify other members of the fraud network, he said. He also rewarded the investigation team with Rs 10,000.
