2 arrested from Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan for duping Delhi man in digital arrest fraud

The cyber police station in South Delhi has arrested two men from Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan for allegedly duping a person through digital arrest cyber fraud and for their involvement in more than 10 cases, police said Sunday.

The accused allegedly contacted the victim through a WhatsApp video call, posed as law enforcement officials and threatened the person with arrest. The victim, a businessman, was threatened and harassed before the accused induced them to transfer ₹6 lakh, police said. An e-FIR was registered at Cyber South police station under sections 308, 318(4), 319 and 340 of the BNS.

Police said their investigation began with tracing the financial trail. The amount that was cheated was first credited to a bank account allegedly controlled by Mukesh Kumhar of Bhilwara, Rajasthan. Of this, ₹5.5 lakh was subsequently transferred to a second bank account operated by Ritish Kumar Mehra of Kathua, J&K.

“Through focused financial trail and technical analysis, we traced the movement of the cheated money across states and arrested both the account operators,” said DCP (South) Anant Mittal.

Mehra was arrested in Kathua, followed by Kumhar’s arrest in Bhilwara. Both accused have no previous criminal involvement, police said.

One case turned into 10

During scrutiny of Kumhar’s financial profile, investigators identified another bank account that had witnessed transactions of around ₹50 lakh and was linked to 10 complaints registered on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) from different states, police said.

Technical investigation also revealed a Cambodia-linked digital trail in the online communication used in the fraud. Police are analysing the overseas links to establish the role of other suspects.

Police recovered three mobile phones, four ATM/debit cards, five cheque books and five rubber stamps from the accused.

According to investigators, the accused were part of a network that allegedly used beneficiary bank accounts across states to route money obtained through digital-arrest scams. Further investigation is underway to identify other members of the network and trace the funds linked to the other complaints.

DCP Mittal said the case was worked out through “swift financial-trail analysis and focused technical investigation”, adding that further investigation is underway.