Spiritual organisation functionary loses Rs 2.5 cr in 'digital arrest' fraud six held

PTI, April 20, 2025, Ujjain/Gwalior (MP) :  Two employees of a private bank and four others were nabbed from Ujjain district after a functionary of a spiritual body was allegedly "digitally arrested" by cyber crooks for "money laundering" and forced to transfer Rs 2.5 crore over 26 days, police said.

Swami Supradiptananda, secretary of Ramakrishna Mission Ashram in Gwalior, on April 16 lodged a complaint stating that he was made to transfer the money in tranches after he was "digitally arrested", an official said.

During the investigation, Gwalior crime branch officials arrested six persons after raiding places in Nagda and Ujjain, a police officer said.

Nagda police station in-charge AL Gawri said, apart from committing online frauds, the accused were also allegedly involved in renting out bank accounts, distributing fake SIM cards, and using gaming apps to cheat people.

Gwalior's Superintendent of Police Dharmveer Singh said crime branch teams raided places in Ujjain and Nagda following a tip-off.

The arrested persons are identified as Rahul Kahar, Tushar Gome, Karan Vinagya, Shubham Rathod, Vishwajeet Barman, and Kajal Jaiswal.

The probe revealed that a huge amount had been fraudulently transferred to an account of a private bank in Nagda and immediately withdrawn through a cheque, he said.

The role of the assistant manager and a female cashier of the bank surfaced during the probe, he said.

He said several accounts in the private bank are also under scanner.