Navi Mumbai: In a major breakthrough, the Central Crime Branch of Navi Mumbai Police has busted an international cyber fraud racket that targeted victims across the country by threatening them with 'digital arrest' using fake CBI, ED, and Supreme Court letterheads. The racket extorted over Rs 1.81 crore from a woman professor in Nerul alone. Three accused — Ramesh Babulal Sheth alias Patwa (45), Amish Deepak Tulsidas Shah (42), and Rajkumar Gelaram Narang (55) — have been arrested.
The victim in the case was approached by accused who allegedly posed as Income Tax officers and falsely claimed that the professor’s company had tax dues of Rs 8.62 lakh, further alleging her involvement in a money laundering case linked to Delhi Police. They used fake documents and WhatsApp communications to convince her that a case was filed against her and threatened her with a 'digital arrest.' The terrified victim transferred Rs 1.81 crore to six different bank accounts. Realizing the fraud, she filed a complaint with the Cyber Police Station.
The racket’s modus operandi involved creating fake companies, opening multiple current accounts in banks, and obtaining internet banking facilities. They would send bank kits, SIM cards, and other materials to associates, abroad. Through video calls, they threatened victims with digital arrests and extracted large sums of money, which were later laundered through multiple accounts.
"In this particular case, the Sheth and Shah had created a fake company named Bhoomi creation and the bank account of the company was used in the transactions," assistant commissioner of police (crime branch) Ajay Landge said. While Sheth and Shah were involved in creating multiple such LLP companies for the fraud and opening a bank account using the documents, Narang is involved in activating net banking of all the bank accounts and aliging the sim cards with the accounts and then sending the bank kit related to the account and the sim cards to their associates operating from abroad for further transactions. The money transferred into multiple accounts are being operated from Dubai and Combodia, police said.
The Crime Branch’s operation, led by Senior Police Inspector Sunil Shinde, cracked the case after extensive technical surveillance and analysis of bank transactions. Assistant Police Inspectors Srinivas Tungenevar, Sachin Kokare, Satish Bhosale, and Mangesh Wat played key roles in the investigation. The police raided the gang’s office in Andheri and seized Rs 11.35 lakh in cash, a laptop, 18 mobile phones, 18 cheaque books, 32 debit cards, 27 SIM cards, 10 fake company seals, and documents of 36 bank accounts.
The investigation revealed the gang’s connections to 73 online complaints registered on the NCRPC portal, highlighting the nationwide impact of the racket. Shah has cases pending with the CBI and Junagadh Police, while Narang faces multiple fraud cases in Gujarat, and Sheth has a cheating case filed at Mumbai’s LT Marg Police Station.
Given the scale and organized nature of the fraud, the Crime Branch has invoked provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) against the accused.
