A man from Keralam was arrested on Monday, October 19, in connection with the 'digital arrest' of a former district judge in Rajasthan, who had been duped of Rs 2.5 crore in early August.
The accused, Anand Babu, is a native of Koonammavu in the Ernakulam district. He was nabbed by a team from the Jyoti Nagar Police Station in Rajasthan.
Babu is accused of defrauding Ganpat Singh Bhandari, a 90-year-old former judge. The police are probing to know if Babu had accomplices.
According to reports, Bhandari was kept under 'digital arrest' for around 15 days. He had received a call on WhatsApp, where the caller, in a police uniform, allegedly identified himself as a CBI officer.
Bhandari was allegedly told that he was under investigation over a Rs 50 crore hawala transaction, claiming a significant amount had been credited to his SBI account.
Another caller, impersonating an RBI manager, contacted Bhandari on WhatsApp, saying the hawala money had been invested in mutual funds.
The fraud was exposed by an SBI manager who found the attempted transactions to be suspicious. Bhandari's nephew filed a police complaint.
