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Delhi’s biggest digital arrest fraud case of Rs 22.92 crore transferred to CBI
As per the case, 78-year-old retired banker Naresh Malhotra was allegedly placed under digital arrest for over six weeks.
During the probe, officers said, it was found that the fraudsters used a SIM Box to initiate calls.
After the Supreme Court in December directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to undertake a larger probe into digital arrest cases in the country, Delhi’s biggest such case, where a retired banker lost Rs 22.92 crore in six weeks, has been transferred to the agency, The Indian Express has learnt.
According to a police source, the case was transferred earlier this month, and a dedicated team from the CBI’s Economic Offences Unit has been constituted to investigate it. “The CBI is planning to take up the investigation of all digital arrest cases involving amounts above Rs 10 crore,” sources said.
The CBI will probe the overseas fraud nexus and trace the money trail across multiple accounts, they said.
In September last year, a case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) was registered at the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations Unit (IFSO) of the Delhi Police Special Cell. The IFSO investigates cases of online cheating involving amounts of Rs 50 lakh and above.
As per the case, 78-year-old retired banker Naresh Malhotra was allegedly placed under digital arrest for over six weeks. He allegedly transferred Rs 22.92 crore to 16 bank accounts through 21 transactions, after which the funds were further split across seven layers involving 4,236 transactions.
Police said Malhotra received a phone call on August 1, 2025, from a woman posing as a senior telecom official, who claimed his mobile number was linked to illegal activities. He was subsequently contacted by fraudsters impersonating officers of Mumbai Police, ED and CBI.
The scammers allegedly kept him under constant video surveillance and forced him to sign an undertaking to maintain secrecy.
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As per the police, the probe has so far led to the arrest of five persons, who have also been chargesheeted in a court last month. Investigators found that the fraudsters operated in two chains — one group made calls, while another group transferred the defrauded money between multiple accounts.
Police identified the accused as Ashok, Mohit, Amit, Samarjeet and Kanakpal, residents of Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. “They are mule account holders and facilitators… The main operator of both the chains is based in Cambodia,” said an officer.
During the probe, officers said, it was found that the fraudsters used a SIM Box to initiate calls.
An officer said that SIM boxes are mostly used in call centres to send encrypted or recorded voice calls to multiple people, but their installation requires permission from government authorities.
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“On the pretext of setting up call centres, fraudsters take the help of unsuspecting individuals by promising them good returns. Their job is to keep changing fraudulently activated SIM cards, obtained using stolen or duplicate identities through compromised point-of-sale outlets. It can generate thousands of calls a day by constantly rotating multiple SIM cards,” the officer added.
The location of the SIM box in the banker’s case, however, is yet to be traced.
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