For four grueling days, Anshu Mittal’s life was reduced to the glowing lens of his computer camera. As the Managing Director of a manufacturing firm running since 1976 out of New Delhi and Faridabad, he was accustomed to high-stakes corporate decisions.
But nothing could have prepared him for the psychological trauma that began with a seemingly routine phone call on December 29, 2023, and ended with him being extorted out of Rs 48.56 lakh.
He had become the victim of a sophisticated “digital arrest” scam allegedly being run by an elaborate cyber fraud network spanning India and abroad, as per the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which filed a comprehensive chargesheet in the matter in December 2025.
According to the CBI probe, Mittal’s nightmare started when a caller introduced himself as a representative from FedEx Courier and delivered a shocking piece of news: his Aadhaar card had been ‘linked’ to a confiscated parcel containing illegal items. The caller then offered to connect him with law enforcement to clear his name.
Mittal was moved to a Skype call. On his screen, men posing as officers from the Mumbai Cyber Crime Branch took over. According to the CBI, the fraudsters accused Mittal of allegedly being entangled in a massive web of drug trafficking and money laundering. Under the pretext of a sensitive, ongoing investigation, they ordered him into a “digital arrest”.
For the next four days, the probe showed, Mittal was kept under constant digital confinement, with the scammers issuing threats of immediate physical arrest and legal ruin if he disconnected or spoke to anyone.
Officials said Mittal complied with their demands, transferring Rs 48.56 lakh across multiple bank accounts specified by his captors.
Once the money hit the accounts, it was rapidly siphoned out of the banking system within 48 hours. The CBI discovered in its investigation that the syndicate managed to withdraw approximately Rs 41 lakh via ATMs, cash withdrawals, and cheque clearances within India, while another Rs 6 lakh was pulled out simultaneously from ATMs in Dubai.
Uncovering the racket
However, the fraudsters left behind digital breadcrumbs. CBI investigators focused on a bank account under the name of M/s Sabir Enterprises — the primary mule account into which Mittal had been induced to send the money.
As per probe details, an analysis of IP logs for this account revealed that its internet banking facility was accessed on December 29 and 30, 2023. From December 30, 2023, to January 1, 2024, the handlers switched to international proxy servers to hide their location while routing the stolen funds, the probe found.
The CBI traced these digital footprints back to an Indian mobile number registered to the primary accused, Raju Kumar Manjhi. As per the CBI, Manjhi had actively accessed the Sabir Enterprises bank account via internet banking facility just two days before Mittal was targeted.
As per the probe, an analysis of mobile data uncovered coordinated travel patterns between Kolkata and Gurgaon by Manjhi and his accomplices during the crime period.
Police said Manjhi, who lived in Gurgaon, was ordered to be taken into judicial custody last month. His bail plea was rejected on May 29.
A sprawling network
Mittal’s case, investigators said, was just one node in a far larger cybercrime machine.
The CBI, during its investigation, found that the account for M/s Sabir Enterprises had registered transactions worth Rs 2.39 crore on January 1, 2024, around the time Mittal was being extorted.
This single account has been flagged in 106 separate cyber-fraud complaints across India. While police across the country registered 10 FIRs representing 10 victims of this syndicate, those complaints have now been clubbed into a single FIR.
On December 8 last year, the CBI, represented by Public Prosecutors Saloni and Anoop Kumar, filed its first chargesheet in this multi-crore scam before Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Jyoti Maheshwari of Rouse Avenue Court.
The chargesheet names a total of 33 accused so far, including the proprietors of dummy firms used to receive the cheated money, technical handlers who accessed the accounts to siphon the cash, and the mules who routed the funds.
Disclosure statements from 10 arrested individuals also led the CBI to a WhatsApp group named “Work 24*7.” The group was allegedly run by cybercriminals, packed with incriminating chats detailing routine purchase and sale of fraudulent bank accounts, the probe showed.
But Mittal’s stolen money is yet to be recovered.
The CBI is actively pursuing several angles, including the exact link between different co-accused persons and how they gained access to the bank account of M/s Sabir Enterprises, details of transactions worth Rs. 2.39 crore in the said account on a single day, and the exact mechanism of routing and laundering the money through the account.
“The investigation is pending. It is ongoing as there are multiple victims and there are multiple persons who are absconding,” a CBI official said. “It is a complex crime where money has been layered on multiple occasions. The money trail is yet to be fully unravelled,” he added.
CBI has chargesheeted a cyber-fraud network for extorting Rs 48.56 lakh from a Delhi businessman via a four-day "digital arrest." (Representational) 
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