IIT grad, bank manager among 6 arrested for taking ₹1.12 lakh from senior citizen after ‘digital arrest’
Image used to represent | Photo credit: PTI
An Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) graduate and a bank manager were among six people arrested by the Mumbai Cyber Police for allegedly duping a senior citizen of ₹1.12 crore through a “digital arrest” scam, an official said.
The accused have been identified as Tarik Momin, Rakesh Jain, Chintan Desai, Shakar Tyagi, G Gohel and Ajay Sharma, the official said on Thursday (September 17).
Gohel is a web developer with a BE degree from IIT Delhi and was earlier booked in the 2021 cheating case, while Tyagi works as an operations manager in a private bank, he said.
“The victim, a 68-year-old retired businessman from Dahisar, was kept under digital arrest at his residence for nearly two weeks from July to August,” the official said.
The fraudsters first contacted the victim posing as officials from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and claimed that his Aadhaar details had been misused in a money laundering case registered in Delhi, he said.
Subsequently, an impersonator named ‘Vijay Khanna’ placed him under “digital arrest” through WhatsApp video calls wearing police uniforms and producing fake documents with official logos and references to the Supreme Court, the official said.
“Damaged under the threat of family arrest and forced to report his location every two hours, he liquidated his fixed deposits and transferred Rs 1.12 million to several bank accounts controlled by the gang. The crime came to light after the victim’s daughter exposed the fraud and approached the cyber police,” he said.
An investigation by the North Cyber Police traced the money to the bank account of the gold trading firm, the official said.
“Momin managed the bank accounts of the mules, while the registered SIM card of company director Rakesh Jain was routed through Tyagi and Gohel to handle the OTP. The accused Chintan Desai then traveled with the linked device to Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh where the stolen funds were collected and siphoned off,” he said.
Further investigation into financial transactions and other operations of the syndicate is being conducted by Senior Inspector Pramod Kamble and Inspector Sunil Lokhande under the supervision of DCP Bajrang Bansode, he added.
Published – 18 Sep 2026 08:35 IST