A 62-year-old woman who wanted to purchase sleeping pills lost Rs 77 lakh due to digital arrest
A 62-year-old woman, Neeru, was duped of Rs 77 lakh by five people after nine months. In August 2024, Neeru was browsing drug stores for sleeping pills for her neurological illness when she received a call from an officer claiming to be a Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officer. The officer accused Neeru of buying “illicit drugs” and gave her two options: transfer money to verify bank account details or face an arrest warrant. Neetu transferred Rs 3 lakh to different bank accounts to prove her innocence.
Another man, a ‘good cop’, joined the scam, offering validation and promising to recover the money. Within two days, Neetu received Rs 20,000 back into her account, allegedly the first of many promised transactions to bring back the lost month.
The next day, Neetu received a WhatsApp video call from four men, including the ‘good cop’, asking her to share her screen and open her bank account. Unknowingly, Neeru gave net banking access to the fraudsters, leading to multiple debit messages flashing on her mobile phone. When she called the trusted ‘good cop’, his phone was switched off.
On September 24, Neeru registered a complaint at the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSCO) Unit of the Delhi Police’s Special Cell. A team under ACP Manoj Kumar and Sub Inspector Karamvir started investigating digital arrest. On June 24, 2025, the police arrested Akhilesh, one of the accused, from his rented flat in Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar. During interrogation, Akhilesh pleaded guilty to transferring the money from the victim’s bank account, along with accomplices Amjad, Shahid, and Shakeel.
On July 1, the police raided Hamid’s house in Rajasthan’s Deeg and arrested both Hamid and Shakeel despite villagers’ efforts to save them. Neeru has received only Rs 3 lakh so far, and the police are investigating several bank accounts through which the money was moved around.
