Duo held for extorting ₹10L from 71-year-old in “digital arrest” fraud

MUMBAI: Two men allegedly extorted ₹10 lakhs from a 71-year-old woman by posing as a cop and lawyer on WhatsApp, and placing her under ‘digital arrest’ for being a part of a money laundering case. After two months of searching, the Kandivali Police on Monday arrested the two accused- Bhagatram Bhanwarlal Devashi and Mangesh Choudhary.

The complainant, Praveena Jagdish Jhaveri, is a Kandivali resident. Police said on January 15, she was at home with her grandchildren when she received a WhatsApp video call from an unknown number. The man introduced himself as a police officer and told her that her name had cropped up in a big financial fraud, where her bank account was used to transfer illegal money. Jhaveri was threatened with house raids and arrest at first.

“The accused then told the woman she was placed under ‘digital arrest’ at her own home,” a police officer said. Shortly after being placed under ‘digital arrest’, Jhaveri received another call from a different man, who introduced himself as a lawyer. He told her he got her number from the police and asked her to cooperate with them, all the while assuring her that he would help.

To help her with the ‘criminal investigation’, the lawyer demanded money from her and obtained her bank account details. The con men eventually coerced her into transferring money to their bank account. They also falsely promised her a refund once the investigation was complete. Fearing arrest, the complainant transferred ₹9.45 lakh to the accused.

As time passed, she saw no signs of refund and approached the cyber police station. The police registered a cheating case against the two men and began tracing the bank transactions. A special team of the Kandivali police had been searching for the accused, who were on the run, for the past two months. On Monday, Devashi and Choudhary, were arrested from different parts of the city. They were then produced before the Borivali court where they were remanded to police custody for three days.

The police are now investigating to find out whether the two have committed similar crimes in the past. “We are also trying to find out where they got the senior citizen’s mobile number from, and if they are in possession of data of mobile numbers of senior citizens,” said a police officer.