In a landmark judgment on Thursday, a court in Kalyani convicted nine persons for orchestrating a sophisticated cyber fraud case involving “digital arrest” that defrauded a retired professor of ₹1.1 crore.
According to senior police officials and legal experts, this is the first conviction in India specifically linked to this emerging form of cybercrime, which has been described as a form of “economic terrorism”.
Additional district and sessions judge Subherthi Sarkar found the accused guilty under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology Act, including charges of cheating, forgery, and impersonation. The court is likely to pronounce the sentence on Friday.
Convicted individuals Md Imtiyaz Ansari, 40, Shahid Ali Shaikh, 25, Shahrukh Rafik Shaikh, 29, Jatin Anup Ladwal, 23, Rohit Singh, 20, Rupesh Yadav, 23, Sahil Singh, 26, Pathan Sumaiya Banu, 30, and Faldu Ashoke, 35, hail from Maharashtra, Haryana and Gujarat.
They were part of a multi-state fraud syndicate that originated from Cambodia, exploiting digital platforms to impersonate law enforcement officials and extort large sums from unsuspecting victims.
This case began on November 6, 2024, when the retired academic in Kalyani, lodged a complaint with the cybercrime police station under Ranaghat police district.
According to the complainant, he received a WhatsApp call on October 19 from a person calling himself sub-inspector Hemraj Koli of Mumbai’s Andheri.
The caller accused the victim of financial fraud and shared forged papers bearing the retired professor’s name as an accused in ongoing cases.
Over the next seven days, the victim was held in “digital arrest” — a psychological trap where constant threats and intimidation were delivered over calls and messages — leading him to transfer ₹1.1 crore in multiple transactions to bank accounts provided by the fraudsters.
“This is a landmark day for Bengal in cybercrime investigation. As far as we know, this is the first-ever conviction for a case involving digital arrest,” said additional superintendent of police (ASP), Ranaghat, Siddharth Dhapola.
Recognising the complexity and gravity of the fraud, police formed a special investigation team (SIT) under the Kalyani cybercrime police station of Ranaghat police district.
In a 25-day-long operation spanning four states — Haryana, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan — the SIT arrested 13 suspects, including a woman.
Of these, nine were convicted. Four others were also found guilty in other cases that include cheating an elderly couple based in Hooghly. The husband in that case was robbed of his life’s savings and compelled to sell his house. He and his wife, a cancer patient, now stay at a destitute shelter, the police said.
Raids were conducted across various towns, and a large cache of evidence was seized, including bank passbooks, ATM and SIM cards and cellphones.
“We found the WhatsApp call originated from Cambodia using an Indian SIM card. Once we began tracking related phone numbers, we discovered these were linked to nearly 100 similar fraud cases involving an estimated ₹100 crore,” the ASP said, adding that most victims were elderly.
