Delhi Police arrest 5 for running pan-India digital arrest scam; duped woman of Rs 20 lakh

New Delhi, Oct 6 (PTI) Delhi Police has claimed to have busted a pan-India cybercrime syndicate operating a digital arrest scam, arresting five people including the alleged kingpin for duping a woman here of Rs 20 lakh, an official said on Monday.

Police said coordinated raids across Delhi, Hapur and Greater Noida led to arrest of the accused, the kingpin Mohit Jain alias Rinku (33), his associates -- Lokesh Gupta (38), Manoj Kumar Chaudhary, Keshav Kumar (45), and Saif Ali (30).

A large quantity of incriminating material including 14 mobile phones, 40 cheque books, 33 SIM cards, 15 company stamps, 22 stamp papers, 19 debit cards, 14 PAN cards, seven digital signatures, an internet banking key, a debit/credit card swapping machine, a bank scanner were seized from the accused and a luxury SUV was also impounded.

Preliminary analysis showed that the bank accounts linked to the recovered cheque books were connected to 473 cybercrime complaints nationwide, including 24 cases registered in Delhi in 2025, officials said.

Police also found that Mohit and Keshav were involved in multiple cases of cyber fraud, while Saif Ali was paid Rs 7 lakh for arranging people to open shell companies and accounts. One of the accused is a proclaimed offender in a similar cybercrime case, police added.

"The case came to light when a woman lodged a complaint alleging that she had been cheated of Rs 20 lakh after being threatened by men posing as officials of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and the Mumbai Police," Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) (Central) Nidhin Valsan said.

The woman was told that her Aadhaar card had been linked to criminal activity and that she would face arrest if she did not cooperate, he said. "She was directed to join a Skype ID named 'MH00739 NCB Department', where the fraudsters showed fake ID cards and letters to make the setup appear genuine. Under pressure, she was induced to share her bank details, debit card images and OTPs," the DCP said in an official statement.

The accused then transferred Rs 89,000 from her savings account and later took a personal loan of Rs 19.9 lakh in her name, which was routed to an account in the name of M/s Lokeaj Innovation Pvt Ltd, he added.

A case was registered and investigation was launched following which police carried out multiple raids in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh's Hapur, and Greater Noida.

Police said that Lokesh was first arrested from Delhi's Mukundpur area on September 23. Based on his inputs, Manoj was nabbed from Hapur on September 25, followed by Mohit Jain, Keshav Kumar, and Saif Ali from Greater Noida and Shahdara between September 26 and 28.

The accused were found running shell companies -- Lokeaj Innovation Pvt Ltd and Ajloke Software Pvt Ltd --- which were used to launder and receive proceeds of fraud.

Police said that further investigation in the matter is underway. PTI SSJ SSJ OZ OZ