NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) carried out raids at 80 locations across 16 states and arrested two suspects in a digital arrest fraud network that used a website deceptively mimicking the Supreme Court’s official URL to extort victims, the agency said Thursday.
The operation, codenamed ‘Operation Chakra-VI’, deployed 60 specialised teams spanning Punjab and Gujarat in the west to Assam and Manipur in the northeast, dismantling a network linked to more than 200 cases, CBI said.
The agency arrested B Naresh from Chennai and Sanjib Saha from Kolkata, alleging they built a financial scaffolding of shell companies and mule bank accounts used to launder approximately `2 crore in suspected proceeds of crime.
At the centre of the scheme was a fraudulently registered domain bearing a URL that the CBI described as “deceptively similar” to the Supreme Court’s official website. The complaint that triggered the FIR came from the Supreme Court Registry itself.
“Investigation has revealed that the perpetrators uploaded forged and fabricated documents, including fake orders resembling those issued by courts and various law enforcement agencies, to lend credibility to their fraudulent activities,” the spokesperson said.
Technical expertise
The agency leveraged advanced forensic tools and technical expertise, identifying key elements of the criminal infra operating within India and abroad.