Now Reading: 90-year-old ex-judge duped of Rs 2.5 crore in digital arrest scam
-
01
90-year-old ex-judge duped of Rs 2.5 crore in digital arrest scam
A 90-year-old former district judge in Jaipur was cheated of Rs 2.5 crore after being kept under 'digital arrest' for 15 days. The fraud was uncovered when an SBI bank manager grew…
The Story in Brief
A 90-year-old former district judge in Jaipur was cheated of Rs 2.5 crore after being kept under 'digital arrest' for 15 days. The fraud was uncovered when an SBI bank manager grew suspicious as the victim tried to transfer money from his PPF account and alerted him. Police have frozen about Rs 14 lakh so far.
The victim, Ganpat Singh Bhandari, received a WhatsApp video call on July 28 from a man posing as a CBI officer. The caller claimed a Rs 50-crore hawala transaction involved him, and later an impersonator claiming to be an RBI manager demanded financial details. Between August 3 and 10, Bhandari transferred the amount to accounts specified by the fraudsters, who also instructed him to delete chats and calls.
The Indian Opinion
This case is often used to fuel the lazy narrative that only the elderly or uneducated fall for 'digital arrest' scams. But a retired judge with decades of legal experience was cornered by threats and surveillance. The real test is whether police can trace the money and arrest the kingpins, not just freeze Rs 14 lakh. How many mule accounts remain active?
Sources (3): hindustantimes.com, ndtv.com, news.abplive.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the 3 sources linked above.
Updated: this story now draws on 3 sources.
