BHOPAL: In what police believe to be one of the longest cases of “digital arrest”, a Bhopal couple lived in fear for 97 days, believing their lives were about to be destroyed by a criminal case they knew nothing about.
Cyber fraudsters impersonating Delhi Police officers, CID investigators and even a Supreme Court judge kept a retired finance executive and his wife from Bhopal’s Kolar area under constant video surveillance, monitored their movements and eventually extorted Rs 22 lakh from them.
Retired private company employee Narsimha Rao, around 70, and his wife Suvarna Lakshami, 65, who formerly ran a private school, were first targeted while staying at their ancestral home in Andhra Pradesh. Their ordeal continued after they returned to Bhopal and even during their nearly 1,100-km journey between the two states.
On May 19, Suvarna received a call and the caller introduced himself as an officer from Delhi’s Daryaganj police station. He told her that crores of rupees had been transacted through an account allegedly opened in her name in connection with a money-laundering and bank-fraud case involving Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal.
The couple was warned not to disclose the proceedings. Later, a woman identifying herself as “Nisha Patel”, posing as a CID sleuth, questioned them about their bank accounts before connecting them to another person posing as a Supreme Court judge.
The fraudsters kept the couple on prolonged video calls and monitored their movements. On June 9, they sent them what purported to be a property seizure order and demanded Rs 22 lakh.
On June 12, after returning to Bhopal, the couple raised the money by pledging jewellery with Capri Gold and transferred it to an account specified by the fraudsters. The payment did not end the ordeal.
According to reports, the couple even informed their son and daughter about the investigation while they were under “digital arrest”. Instead of immediately suspecting fraud, the children reportedly advised their parents to cooperate with the supposed authorities, believing that transferring the money to the Enforcement Directorate would not cause permanent harm.
The deception was exposed only after their daughter shared the purported court order with a lawyer friend, who identified it as fake. The couple finally approached the police and lodged a complaint at Kolar police station on August 23.
Bhopal DCP Adarsh Kant Shukla said the case was “perhaps the longest case of alleged digital arrest ever reported in the country”. He said a cyber-fraud case had been registered and the investigation was based on bank transactions.
Rs 22l extorted
Woman received call from ‘police officer’ over a money laundering case
Couple kept under prolonged surveillance
Fake property seizure document sent, leading to extortion of Rs 22L
Fraud revealed when seizure documents were shown to a lawyer
Police register cyber fraud case and launch probe
