RAIPUR: A 66-year-old grocery store owner in Raipur lost ₹8.5 lakh after cyber fraudsters posing as CBI and IPS officers allegedly kept him under “digital arrest” for 44 days. Khamtarai police registered a case on Sunday following his complaint and launched an investigation into the bank accounts linked to the fraud.
The victim, Devsingh Sahu, runs a grocery store in Bajrang Nagar, Urkura. On August 18 at around 9 am, Sahu received a call from an unidentified woman who accused him of being involved in a money laundering case. She later transferred the call to a man named Aditya, who collected personal details about Sahu’s family, property and bank accounts.
Another caller, Balraj Singh, introduced himself as a CBI officer and connected Sahu through a video call to Pradeep Singh, who claimed to be an IPS officer. The fraudsters told Sahu that an ICICI Bank account in his name had been used to launder ₹6.8 crore.
The accused allegedly threatened Sahu and his family with arrest and ordered him to transfer money into specified bank accounts for “fund verification”. They also forced Sahu and his wife, Indu Sahu, to remain on continuous video calls and provide hourly updates, effectively isolating the couple inside their home.
Sahu transferred a total of ₹8.5 lakh through nine digital transactions between September 4 and October 1. He transferred ₹2 lakh each to accounts held by Ridhima Auto and Rakesh Traders. The remaining amount was transferred to accounts linked to UCO Bank (₹1 lakh), Kotak Mahindra Bank (₹50,000), Capwise Trading Technologies Private Limited (₹1 lakh), Ganesh Bhandar (₹1 lakh), and Srijan Life Management (₹1 lakh).
During the fraud, Sahu exhausted his savings and sold family gold jewellery to arrange the money. When he was unable to meet further demands, he disclosed the matter to his younger brother, Sundar Lal Sahu, on October 3.
His brother alerted him that he had fallen victim to a cyber scam, following which Sahu approached Khamtarai police station on October 4.
Police have registered a case against the unidentified suspects under relevant legal provisions. Investigators are examining bank statements, phone records, chat logs and transaction receipts to trace the account holders and identify the fraudsters.
