CBI files charge sheet in Rajasthan digital arrest case

Jaipur, June 10 The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a charge sheet before a court in Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu against four accused in a digital arrest cyber fraud case.

Initially, the case was registered at the Cyber Police Station, Jhunjhunu.

On the reference of the Rajasthan government, the CBI had taken over the investigation of the cybercrime.

The victim, a professor in a renowned educational institution, was digitally detained for over three months by cybercriminals impersonating personnel of law enforcement agencies and was extorted 42 times, amounting to Rs 7.67 crore.

After completing its probe, the investigative agency filed its charge sheet before the Jhunjhunu Chief Judicial Magistrate against four persons accused of cyber offences. During the course of the investigation, the CBI developed crucial leads and conducted extensive searches at multiple locations across the country.

"These searches led to the recovery of significant incriminating materials against the accused persons. Based on the findings so far, a total of eight persons have been arrested in connection with the case," the agency said in a statement.

All eight accused are presently in judicial custody, and as prescribed under law, the chargesheet has been filed against four accused within the statutory time limit of 60 days from the date of their arrest, added the statement.

The investigation is continuing against the remaining four accused.

In April this year, the CBI arrested four ‘kingpins’, two each from Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad, involved in this highly organised crime syndicate as part of its Operation Chakra-V initiative, which seeks to dismantle the infrastructure behind such cyber offences. Notably, the investigative agency has been at the forefront of a crackdown on cybercrimes like digital arrests, adopting a multi-pronged approach in investigating such cases as well as dismantling the entire infrastructure.

The digital arrest scams have taken the nation by storm lately, with scamsters making video calls to the prospective targets. Their common modus operandi is to pose as officials from any law enforcement agency or any regulating agency and confront the victim over some offence they didn’t even commit. The cyber syndicate seeks to create psychological pressure on the victims that they have been ‘digitally arrested’ for some crime, and then go on to extort money before ‘releasing’ them from digital custody.

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