Police have arrested two Mumbai-based men for allegedly cheating Bishop Kishore Kujur of the Catholic Diocese of Rourkela out of Rs 14.36 lakh through a ‘digital arrest’ scam. The accused, identified as Nayan Lalit Nathwani (47) and Dhabal Paresh Pandya (35), allegedly posed as Mumbai Police officers, an IPS officer and a CBI official to convince the bishop that his mobile number and bank account were linked to money laundering and terror financing.
The fraudsters allegedly showed him a fake Supreme Court non-bailable warrant and kept him under constant surveillance through calls, asking him to submit activity reports every three hours.
They later persuaded him to transfer Rs 36,500 as a legal fee and Rs 14 lakh as a refundable security deposit for a “priority investigation.” After realising he had been duped, the bishop approached the police. Investigators traced the money trail and arrested the two accused, who are suspected to be part of a larger interstate cyber fraud network.
