NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has sought responses from the Centre, the CBI and others on a plea filed by a 78-year-old retired banker who was duped of Rs 23 crore after allegedly being put under “digital arrest” for nearly a month.
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi has issued notices to the Union of India, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and others on the plea filed by Naresh Malhotra. The plea has sought directions to the banks involved to deposit the defrauded amount of Rs 22.92 crore in the petitioner’s accounts. Malhotra has made the Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, City Union Bank and Yes Bank parties to the case.
Cyber fraudsters posing as Enforcement Directorate (ED) and CBI officials duped the retired banker from south Delhi’s Gulmohar Park area of Rs 23 crore by allegedly putting him under “digital arrest” for nearly a month.
The accused allegedly told the victim that his Aadhaar card was involved in narcotics trafficking, terror funding and the Pulwama terror attack, and confined him to his flat under the pretext of investigation, an officer said. “The scammers directed him not to step out of his house and coerced him into transferring his savings to various bank accounts over a span of a month,” police said.
According to police, the victim has stated in his complaint that the ordeal began on August 4 last year, when he received a call from a man claiming to be a Mumbai Police officer. The caller accused him of being linked to a drug trafficking racket. Subsequently, fraudsters impersonating ED and CBI officials also contacted him.
“Out of fear, the victim complied with their instructions and kept transferring money from his bank accounts to the accounts specified by the fraudsters. The accused also threatened the victim of dire consequences if he revealed the matter to anyone,” police added.
Realising that he was duped, Malhotra got a complaint lodged on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) on September 19 last year, following which the matter was transferred to the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit. Police had said an FIR was registered and Rs 12.11 crore of the cheated amount were frozen in various bank accounts.
