90-year-old Jaipur ex-judge held under 15-day digital arrest, loses Rs 2.5 crore

A 90-year-old former Jaipur district judge was allegedly duped of Rs 2.50 crore by fraudsters posing as CBI and RBI officials, who kept him under "digital arrest" for 15 days.

In Short

• Fraudsters posed as CBI and RBI officials, kept him under digital arrest for 15 days
• Victim transferred money fearing arrest, following threats and false claims
• Case registered, police investigating under IT Act and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita

A 90-year-old former district judge in Jaipur lost Rs 2.50 crore to cyber fraudsters who posed as CBI officials and an RBI manager and kept him under “digital arrest” for around 15 days, police said on Thursday.

The fraud came to light after an SBI manager stopped Bhandari from transferring more money from his Public Provident Fund (PPF) account. Following this, a case was registered at Jaipur’s Jyoti Nagar police station on Wednesday evening.

According to the FIR filed on a complaint by Bhandari’s nephew, Ravindra Singh Mohnot, Ganpat Singh Bhandari received a WhatsApp video call from an unidentified number on July 28. The caller, dressed in a police uniform, introduced himself as a CBI officer from Mumbai.

The caller told Bhandari that authorities had detected a Rs 50 crore hawala transaction in Mumbai and claimed that Rs 40 lakh from the transaction had been credited to his SBI account. The fraudster threatened Bhandari with arrest and warned him against informing his family.

Later, another person contacted Bhandari on WhatsApp and claimed to be an RBI manager. The caller told him that money linked to the hawala transaction had been invested in mutual funds and asked him to provide details of his financial investments.

The fraudsters used threats and repeated calls to keep Bhandari under pressure. Acting out of fear, he shared details of his mutual funds and other financial documents with them.

The accused then instructed him to transfer money to different bank accounts, claiming that the transfers would help with the investigation and verification. According to the complaint, Bhandari transferred Rs 2,50,51,000 from his SBI account in Gandhi Nagar between August 3 and 10.

Police said the fraudsters also instructed Bhandari to delete WhatsApp chats, call logs and other messages after every conversation. This allegedly helped them conceal the fraud from his family.

According to the complaint, the transactions included transfers of Rs 22.17 lakh and Rs 28.34 lakh on August 3. The fraudsters later got him to transfer Rs 40 lakh twice, followed by transactions of Rs 30 lakh and Rs 30 lakh, among others. The total amount transferred reached Rs 2.50 crore.

The fraudsters later turned their attention to Bhandari’s PPF account and asked him to transfer more money. On Wednesday, Bhandari went to SBI’s Johari Bazaar branch to make the transaction.

The bank manager became suspicious after noticing the large transaction. The manager questioned Bhandari and told him that he appeared to have fallen victim to a cyber fraud. The manager then stopped the transaction, preventing the transfer of around Rs 1.50 crore that remained in the account, according to the complaint.

Bhandari subsequently contacted his nephew, who approached the Jyoti Nagar police and lodged the complaint.

Police have registered a case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act. The Jyoti Nagar police are investigating the transactions and bank accounts involved to identify the accused.

- Ends