New Delhi, March 12 The CBI has registered separate cases related to two incidents of digital fraud targeting a former professor and a retired gynecologist from Gujarat, defrauding them of a total of Rs 30 crore, officials said on Thursday.
In the first case, a retired professor from St Xavier's College, Ahmedabad, started receiving calls from a woman claiming to be a representative of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) from June 10, 2025, saying that her phone number would be blocked – a common tactic in such cases.
According to officials, the accused allegedly told the professor that a case had been registered against her at the Colaba police station in Mumbai, saying that Inspector Vijay Khanna would now be handling the case, which lasted for 82 days.
During this period, the fraudsters, posing as officials from various law enforcement agencies, continued to pressure the victim and her husband, extorting over Rs 11 crore from their life savings in various installments under the pretext of verification, while keeping them in digital custody, the FIR stated.
In a similar case, a retired gynecologist from Gandhinagar was kept under digital arrest for 123 days from March 15 to July 16, 2025, during which cyber criminals allegedly siphoned off more than Rs 19.24 crore in installments.
The criminals, posing as law enforcement officers, said the amounts would be returned after the investigation, and threatened her with dire consequences if she refused to cooperate. They further claimed that plainclothes officers were keeping an eye on her, and any attempt to contact someone would adversely affect her situation, the FIR stated.
In both cases, the criminals convinced the victims not to share details of the "investigation" with anyone.
The cases were transferred from the cyber crime unit of the CID to the CBI, which was earlier investigating the case.
The central agency has booked nearly 44 unidentified persons in connection with both cases, they said.
