Operation Chakra-VI: CBI reports five more arrests, total eight

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has reported five more arrests under Operation Chakra-VI, taking the number apprehended in three digital-arrest fraud cases to eight. The agency alleged that the five helped receive and move fraud proceeds through bank accounts, with three also accused of using malicious software to intercept bank messages. Its statement does not specify the dates of the arrests.^[1]

The arrests followed searches at 89 locations across 20 states, according to the CBI. The three cases concern alleged losses of Rs 7.67 crore in a case connected with BITS Pilani, Rs 19.24 crore in Gujarat and Rs 15.45 crore in Karnataka. The agency said its investigation was tracing the wider network behind the movement of the money.^[1]

Bank accounts and intercepted messages

The CBI identified the five arrested people as Sanket Bastwar and Pankaj Damade, both from Itarsi; Arif, also known as King Bhai; Harish Purushottam Yadav, also known as Harry, from New Delhi; and Shashank Singh, also known as Ravi, from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh.^[1]

Bastwar and Damade allegedly obtained a bank account through deception, accepted proceeds from a digital-arrest fraud into it and helped disperse the money to obscure its trail. The agency accused Arif, Yadav and Singh of arranging an account to receive a victim’s money and then moving the funds through multiple accounts.^[1]

That movement is what the CBI describes as “layering”: transferring proceeds through accounts to make the money trail harder to follow. Its account of the arrests focuses on this financial infrastructure, rather than identifying the five as the people who impersonated officials when approaching victims.^[1]

The agency further alleged that Arif, Yadav and Singh installed a malicious APK file, an Android application installation package, on the account holder’s mobile phone. It said the software intercepted the bank’s SMS alerts and enabled them to operate the account covertly. The statement does not identify the application or explain how it was installed.^[1]

These are the investigating agency’s allegations, not findings of guilt. The release does not include responses from the accused or details of any court ruling on the allegations.^[1]

Three cases behind the searches

The CBI described prolonged coercion in each of the three cases covered by the searches. In the BITS Pilani-related case, it said scammers impersonating police officers kept the victim under digital arrest for three months and took Rs 7.67 crore.^[1]

The durations and amounts are those reported by the CBI. Its statement does not set out the dates of the underlying frauds or allocate each of the five additional arrests to a particular case.^[1]

The earlier searches had led to the arrests of Akash, Raja Karmakar and Jyoti Rani. According to the agency, Akash received Rs 1.95 crore into an account he had opened and transferred it onward the same day. It alleged that Rs 1.5 crore passed through Karmakar’s firm’s account, while Rani withdrew part of the credited proceeds in cash and transferred the remainder onward.^[1]

What “digital arrest” describes

The expression does not describe a lawful form of custody. In an advisory dated 6 March 2025, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), under the Ministry of Home Affairs, said there was no concept of digital arrest under Indian law.^[2]

The advisory described a method in which criminals pose as police officers, investigators or representatives of government agencies. They make false accusations of criminal involvement and demand money to settle the supposed case. Some victims are compelled to remain on video calls, while fabricated police-station settings help the callers appear genuine.^[2]

That advisory explains the broader fraud method; it does not establish that every technique it describes was used in the three cases announced by the CBI.

Supreme Court directions on the money trail

The CBI said the searches were conducted following Supreme Court directions. The court’s wider intervention is documented in In Re: Victims of Digital Arrest Related to Forged Documents, a proceeding it initiated on its own motion after receiving a complaint from a senior citizen couple who had lost their life savings to a digital-arrest scam.^[1][3]

In its order dated 1 December 2025, a bench comprising the Chief Justice and Justice Joymalya Bagchi directed that the CBI be the primary agency investigating digital-arrest cases. The court said these scams required urgent attention and specialised investigation.^[3]

The interim directions addressed mule accounts, meaning accounts used to receive and move criminal proceeds. The court allowed the CBI to investigate bankers’ involvement in opening such accounts under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, wherever such involvement was found. It also sought the Reserve Bank of India’s assistance on using artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify mule accounts and freeze proceeds.^[3]

The court directed technology intermediaries to provide traffic and content data when sought by the CBI for these investigations. It also directed states and Union Territories to grant the consent required under Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, to enable the agency’s nationwide investigation of the identified cybercrimes.^[3]

A subsequent order dated 9 February 2026, by the Chief Justice, Justice Bagchi and Justice N.V. Anjaria, addressed restoration of defrauded money. The bench directed the Home Ministry to adopt and implement a standard operating procedure approved on 2 January 2026 for custody and restoration of funds and grievance redressal, with a uniform process across participating entities.^[4]

Those directions do not establish that money has been returned in the three cases covered by the arrest announcement. The CBI’s statement gives no amount recovered or restored to these victims; it says efforts were continuing to apprehend others allegedly involved in the wider network.^[1]

References

1. cbi.gov.in. Press Detail | Central Bureau of Investigation.
2. Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre. “Digital Arrest” Scam, advisory TAU/ADV/003. 6 March 2025.
3. Supreme Court of India. Record of Proceedings, In Re: Victims of Digital Arrest Related to Forged Documents, Suo Moto Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 3/2025. 1 December 2025.
4. Supreme Court of India. Record of Proceedings, In Re: Victims of Digital Arrest Related to Forged Documents, Suo Moto Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 3/2025. 9 February 2026.