Mumbai: A Malad textile merchant was allegedly conned out of ₹26.5 lakh after cybercriminals posing as police officers threatened to arrest him by falsely linking him to a terror attack accused. The cyber cell of the north regional division has arrested a father and son for allegedly providing the fraudsters with a bank account through which the money was routed.

Father-son duo held for routing ₹26.5L in ‘digital arrest’ scam

The accused, Atul Sudam Gaikwad, 48, and Vineet Atul Gaikwad, 24, were produced before a local court in Borivali and remanded to police custody. Police said the account was opened in the name of a fictitious company, with Atul, his wife and son listed as directors.

The victim, 55-year-old Dhanesh Ramanlal Shah, runs Shraddha Garments and lives in Malad. According to his complaint, he received a call on August 27 from a man claiming to be a CID officer. The caller told him that he was under investigation in Kashmir and alleged that his Aadhaar card had been found during a raid at the residence of Adil Gauri, described as a prime accused in the April 2025 Pulwama terror attack.

The caller spun a story about a ₹95-crore scam allegedly orchestrated using the Aadhaar details of more than 100 people. Shah was told that his identity had been used to open a bank account through which ₹7 crore in online transactions had taken place. He was also accused of receiving ₹5 lakh and a 15% commission for helping open the account.

Shah denied knowing Gauri and said he did not hold a bank account in Kashmir. But the callers allegedly warned that he could be arrested at any time and claimed that cooperation would help him avoid arrest.

The interrogation continued over video calls. The callers sought details of Shah’s family, bank accounts, jewellery and investments. A second man, who identified himself as Ranbir Singh, also questioned him.

To lend credibility to their claims, the fraudsters allegedly invoked the names of police officers and political leaders and sent Shah documents carrying purported signatures of senior officials from the Supreme Court and the Mumbai Crime Branch.

Shah was instructed to pledge his family’s gold and empty his bank accounts, with the money to be transferred to an account specified by the callers. They assured him that the funds would be returned after the investigation. Believing them, he transferred approximately ₹26.5 lakh.

The callers stopped responding after abruptly declaring the inquiry over. Shah and his family tried to contact them but could not reach anyone. He subsequently learnt that a friend had allegedly fallen victim to a similar scam and approached the police.

Police found that the money had been transferred to a private bank account belonging to Gaikwad. Police said Atul had created the account in the name of a sham company and shared its details with cybercriminals. The Gaikwad family allegedly received a commission for facilitating the scam.

The cyber cell registered a case involving cheating, extortion and provisions of the Information Technology Act. Both father and son were arrested as the investigation established their alleged roles in the fraud.