The cybercrime wing of Bengal Police said it had unearthed a digital arrest racket and picked up a man allegedly operating a bank account in Murshidabad, where money from victims of at least 41 such cases had been deposited.
Sources in the police said the accused, Tapas Manna, an advocate by profession, had been operating the racket from a hotel in Lucknow by collecting funds in the mule account in Jangipur, Murshidabad.
Investigators said they have so far traced fraudulent transactions amounting to nearly ₹3.85 crore that were transferred through a mule account opened in the name of “Vivekananda Welfare Trust”.
Officials said the suspected bank account has surfaced in connection with 41 complaints filed with the National Cyber Crime Portal from multiple states in the country.
The police said at least 10 FIRs had already been registered nationwide in which this account was identified for suspicious transactions.
“We have found electronic evidence which suggests that the calls made to the victims of digital arrest originated from Cambodia and Myanmar.
Of the 41 cases reported with the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP), at least three were registered in Bengal, including one in Bidhannagar and one in Madhyamgram. The three cases amounted to a total duped amount of ₹25 lakh, the police said.
The investigation was initiated following intelligence inputs from the Union ministry of home affairs (CIS division) on suspicious financial transactions linked to multiple complaints registered on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal.
Based on the findings, the officer in charge of the NCRP cell, West Bengal Cyber Crime Wing, lodged a suo motu complaint at Madhyamgram police station. A case was registered on November 4, 2025.
The police started tracing back the money that had been fraudulently transferred out of the victims’ accounts, and it was traced to a private bank account at the Jangipur branch in Murshidabad.
“The account is suspected to have been used for routing and laundering money generated through ‘digital arrest’ cyber fraud schemes,” said an officer of the cybercrime wing of Bengal Police.
Manna, a so-called secretary of the “Vivekananda Welfare Trust”, was questioned several times by the police.
He was arrested on Thursday after he allegedly failed to explain the source of the money transferred to the welfare body’s account.
According to investigators, Manna allegedly played an active role in operating and controlling the fraudulent bank account and coordinating with members of the organised interstate cyber fraud network.