NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a chargesheet against a man accused of allegedly defrauding a 78-year-old retired banker of Rs 23 crore through a “digital arrest” scam, officials said on Friday.
The CBI, which took over the probe on March 15 on the orders of the Supreme Court, has charged Siliguri-based Sagnik Roy and his firm, Securing World Social and Economic Development Council, with receiving the proceeds of the fraud through their bank account.
Roy had previously been arrested by Delhi Police, which initially handled the case.
The victim, Naresh Malhotra, a retired banker living alone in Delhi’s upscale Gulmohar Park neighbourhood, was allegedly targeted by callers who claimed to represent telecom companies and law enforcement agencies.
The accused allegedly told Malhotra that his Aadhaar number was linked to narcotics trafficking, terror funding and the Pulwama terror attack, and confined him to his flat under the pretext of an official investigation.
Fraudsters, allegedly posing as officials from the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI, pressured Malhotra to liquidate his investments and hand over the money under the pretext of verifying alleged terror-linked financial activity.
The CBI said investigators also found that the same bank account had been used in at least two other cyber fraud cases registered at separate locations across India, and that the stolen funds had been routed onward through a network of mule accounts.
The trail showed the funds were layered through over 4,000 accounts and withdrawn nationwide to evade detection.
It was not until September 19, 2025, that the 78-year-old victim, Malhotra, filed a complaint on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal. An FIR was subsequently lodged.
In a petition before the Supreme Court, Malhotra sought directions for the banks involved in the transactions, including Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank, to reimburse the defrauded amount, claiming lapses in detecting and stopping suspicious fund movements.
He said he was warned against revealing the matter to anyone, even his family members, and that if he did, they would be counted as co-accused and put behind bars.
The victim said the scammers sent him forged Reserve Bank of India certificates after each transfer. He said he was told the money would be returned and that a nodal officer from the RBI would contact him.