CBI widens digital-arrest crackdown; Supreme Court keeps watch

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has intensified its campaign against "digital arrest" fraud rings under Operation Chakra-VI, carrying out searches at 89 locations across 20 states. The operation, which has led to three arrests so far, is focused on tracing the movement of defrauded funds and identifying the beneficiaries of these elaborate cybercrimes.

The agency's investigation centres on three major cases where victims were coerced into transferring large sums after being falsely told over video calls that they were under police custody. Among those arrested is Akash from Haryana, who allegedly received ₹1.95 crore of defrauded money into an account he opened himself and moved the funds onward the same day. Raja Karmakar of Kolkata is accused of routing ₹1.5 crore through his firm's account, while Jyoti Rani allegedly withdrew part of the funds credited to her account in cash and transferred the rest.

The scale of the racket is evident in the cases under scrutiny. A professor at BITS Pilani was kept under a fabricated "digital arrest" for three months and defrauded of ₹7.67 crore. The ordeal began in October 2023 with a caller posing as a telecom regulator, followed by fake Mumbai police, Enforcement Directorate, and CBI officials who took over via Skype, falsely linking her to a money-laundering case involving Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal. Believing her funds needed "digital verification," the victim withdrew ₹7.67 crore through 42 transactions and deposited the money into accounts as directed, even taking a loan of ₹80 lakh to make payments.

In a similar case, a senior woman doctor in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, was targeted for over three months from March 15 to June 25. Scammers posing as telecom officials, police officers, and public prosecutors used forged papers to convince her she was under investigation. She was forced to stay on constant video contact and share her live location. The fraudsters told her that assets worth about ₹20 crore needed to be "parked" pending investigation. The victim broke fixed deposits, took loans, sold gold, and offloaded shares, transferring ₹19.24 crore to about 30 accounts. Police arrested Lalji Jayantibhai Baldaniya, whose account was used to receive money, and suspect a Cambodia-based cybercrime syndicate link.

In February-March 2026, 81-year-old businessman Ajit Gopalkrishna Saraf from Belagavi was cheated of ₹15.45 crore over six weeks. The scam began with a caller posing as a CBI official who accused him of links with Mr. Goyal, followed by a fake RBI official who forced him to liquidate fixed deposits and stock investments. The fraud came to light only when his son visited during the Ugadi festival.

Digital arrest scams have become one of India's most damaging cyber-fraud categories, disproportionately affecting elderly citizens. A government submission to the Supreme Court earlier placed total losses from such scams at roughly ₹3,000 crore. In December 2025, the Supreme Court gave the CBI a free hand to probe not just the scams but also the bankers and mule-account networks that enable them.

The Court has since issued a series of interim directions, the latest in August 2026, as part of suo motu proceedings. The Grievance Redressal Mechanism now covers over 1.23 lakh bank branches across 69 banks, and a Money Restoration Mechanism spanning 57 banks has restored about ₹18.05 crore across 36,290 cases. The Court has directed the RBI to issue a standard procedure for freezing mule accounts and implementing safeguards like delayed-transaction mechanisms.

The CBI has registered many digital arrest cases and conducted multiple rounds of searches. In June 2026, the agency raided over 80 locations across 16 states in connection with more than 200 cases. On August 4, 2026, the Court directed the Centre, states, RBI, and telecom authorities to prepare a Standard Operating Procedure to curb these scams and implement mechanisms for grievance redressal, zero FIRs, and time-bound restoration of monetary losses.