U.P. STF nabs 2 members of digital arrest gang

Two mobile phones and 41 WhatsApp screenshots containing details of bank accounts used in the fraud were also recovered from them

The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) on Saturday arrested two members of a gang allegedly involved in a large-scale digital fraud.

The action began after the STF received intelligence inputs about the gangs carrying out digital arrests. (For Representation)

As per an STF press release, the accused identified as Raj Kumar Singh from Noida and Sandeep Dohre from Jhansi used to digitally arrest victims before cheating them while posing as officers from the CBI, narcotics department and the crime branch.

The STF made the arrests from Lucknow. Two mobile phones and 41 WhatsApp screenshots containing details of bank accounts used in the fraud were also recovered from them, the press release said.

The action began after the STF received intelligence inputs about the gangs carrying out digital arrests. The breakthrough came after one Dr Ashok Solanki from Lucknow was defrauded of ₹48 lakh after being digitally arrested for two days by the gang, it added.

“Following this, STF teams arrested five other gang members in Gurugram on November 14 and this led to the capture of Raj Kumar Singh and Dohre,” the STF press release said.

During interrogation, Singh revealed that his associates and he had been trained in Cambodia to carry out fraudulent digital arrests and scams. Singh confessed to his involvement in frauds totalling ₹36 lakh and ₹2.5 crore in two cases.

Dohre revealed how he collected information about corporate accounts and facilitated the fraud, press release stated. The STF has registered an FIR under relevant sections at the cybercrime police station in Lucknow and further probe is in progress.