A 90-year-old retired district judge in Jaipur was allegedly cheated of Rs 2.50 crore by cyber criminals who posed as CBI officials and staged a so-called “digital arrest”, police said.
The victim, identified as former district judge Ganpat Singh Bhandari, received a WhatsApp video call on July 28 from an unknown number. A man in police uniform introduced himself as a Mumbai-based CBI officer and claimed Bhandari’s bank account had been used to route Rs 50 crore in hawala transactions, warning that he would be arrested. The caller also allegedly threatened him not to inform family members.
Soon after, another person contacted Bhandari on WhatsApp, claiming to be an RBI manager. He allegedly said the hawala money had been invested in mutual funds and sought details of Bhandari’s investments and financial documents.
Fearing the threats, Bhandari shared information about his mutual fund investments and other documents. The fraudsters then asked him to “assist the inquiry” by transferring money to different bank accounts.
Police said Bhandari transferred Rs 2,50,51,000 from his SBI account to multiple accounts between August 3 and August 10. When the callers later asked him to move funds from his PPF account as well, he visited the SBI Johari Bazaar branch in Jaipur, where the bank manager grew suspicious and stopped the transaction. A relative, Ravindra Singh, subsequently filed a complaint, and Jaipur Police have registered a case and are investigating.
