Govt employee loses Rs 83 lakh during digital arrest

Bagalkot: A govt employee, who is about to retire in 3 months, lost Rs 83 lakh to online fraudsters who kept him under digital arrest between Feb 22 to April 13.

Bagalkot CEN police said that HV Suresh Rao, 59, a senior typist at Upper Krishna Project Bagalkot, was kept in digital arrest on charges of sending obscene messages to the public from a SIM card, purchased using Rao’s Aadhaar Card. “They threatened that a case would be registered at the Mumbai crime branch. They even made video calls that showcased a police station, a court and a judge, which were fake. They also said the case is under trial in the court and senior IPS officers are monitoring the investigation,” they added.

In the complaint, Rao’s family members said that the fraudsters demanded bribes to avoid arrest. “We were also questioned virtually during these video calls. We transferred Rs 83 lakh in phases. Now we have realised that we were under digital arrest,” they added.

SP Siddarth Goyal said that CEN police are investigating the case.