CHENNAI: Senior AIADMK leader and Rajya Sabha MP CV Shanmugam on Tuesday received a “digital arrest” spam call from individuals posing as law enforcement officers while he was in Delhi to attend the ongoing Parliament session. The callers not only accused him of being a terrorist with 17 criminal cases pending against him but also hurled abuses at him in English and Tamil.
Shanmugam has filed a formal written complaint with the Parliament House Police Station in Delhi, seeking the registration of an FIR and the transfer of the case to the CBI. Citing a Supreme Court directive calling for nationwide efforts to curb such scams, he urged immediate action.
In his complaint, the former Tamil Nadu minister stated that he received the call around 10 am on Tuesday from an unknown number while he was on his way to Parliament. The caller, speaking in English, claimed to be a police officer from Mumbai and accused him of being a terrorist, threatening immediate arrest. The call was then transferred to another individual who claimed to be a “Senior PI” and alleged that 17 criminal cases were pending against him.
Shanmugam said that when he demanded official identification, the callers suddenly switched to Tamil and abused him, exposing the call as a fraudulent attempt to intimidate and extort. When his assistant checked the number on the Truecaller app, it reportedly displayed the name “BKC Police Station Mumbai,” indicating deliberate impersonation. Attempts to call back the number went unanswered.
According to Shanmugam, online verification showed that the number, issued by a major service provider, was registered to a user in West Bengal, with its location traced to Delhi.
The MP warned that if such criminals could target a Member of Parliament, the general public remained even more vulnerable.