Kolkata: Calcutta High Court on Wednesday transferred a digital arrest case, where a 70-year-old was defrauded Rs 2.7 crore in three days, to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), considering an apex court order that CBI will be the primary agency to investigate cases reporting digital arrest scams. Narendrapur Police Station was directed to hand over the case diary and other materials to CBI’s Economic Offence Branch within 10 days.
The single bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya noted the Supreme Court order of Dec 1, 2025, where it was directed that CBI will be the primary agency to probe cases reporting digital arrest scams. The woman received a phone call on Aug 28, 2024, by a caller claiming to be from a courier agency.
“In paragraph 6(iv) of said order dated Dec 1, 2025, it was further directed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court upon all state govts and Union Territories that under Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, sanction shall be accorded so that CBI can undertake a comprehensive action in respect of identified cases,” Justice Bhattacharyya noted. The case pertains to a 70-year-old retired govt employee who lost Rs 2.7 crore after being “digitally arrested” for three days. The victim was told that her Aadhaar card has been used for an illegal activity and she was told not to disclose any of these details with her husband or son.
On the same day, she got a video call by an individual claiming to be from the Mumbai Cyber Crime department.
The investigating officer had tried to block the accounts but a major amount had already been withdrawn by the accused. The victim met with the deputy superintendent of Police Cyber Crime at Baruipur and he was able to locate the accounts in Rajasthan.