JAIPUR: A 90-year-old former district judge was allegedly conned of Rs 2.50 crore by cyber fraudsters who posed as CBI officials and an RBI manager and kept him under “digital arrest” for nearly 15 days, police said on Thursday.The fraud was uncovered after an SBI manager stopped the victim from transferring money from his Public Provident Fund (PPF) account, suspecting that he had fallen prey to cyber fraud. A case was subsequently registered at Jaipur’s Jyoti Nagar police station on Wednesday evening.According to the FIR filed on a complaint by the victim’s nephew, Ravindra Singh Mohnot, Ganpat Singh Bhandari received a WhatsApp video call from an unknown number on July 28. The caller, dressed in a police uniform, allegedly introduced himself as a CBI officer from Mumbai and claimed that a Rs 50 crore hawala transaction had been detected, with Rs 40 lakh allegedly credited to Bhandari’s SBI account.The caller allegedly threatened Bhandari with arrest and warned him against telling his family about the matter.Soon after, another person contacted him on WhatsApp, claiming to be an RBI manager. He allegedly told Bhandari that money linked to the hawala transaction had been invested in mutual funds and asked him to provide details of his investments and other financial assets.Police said Bhandari, allegedly acting under fear and pressure, shared details of his mutual funds and other financial documents with the fraudsters.The accused then allegedly directed him to transfer money to several bank accounts, claiming the transactions were part of the investigation. As per the complaint, Bhandari transferred Rs 2,50,51,000 from his SBI account at Gandhi Nagar between August 3 and 10.The fraudsters allegedly told him to delete WhatsApp chats, call logs and other messages after every conversation, preventing his family from discovering the alleged scam.They later instructed Bhandari to transfer money from his PPF account as well. When he approached the SBI’s Johari Bazaar branch on Wednesday, the bank manager became suspicious and stopped the transaction.The manager questioned Bhandari and alerted him that he appeared to have been targeted by cyber fraudsters. Bhandari then contacted his nephew, who approached the police and lodged the complaint.Police have registered a case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act. Further investigation is underway.(With PTI inputs)
