West Bengal: Life imprisonment to 9 people in digital arrest case, big decision of West Bengal court

Kolkata. For the last one year, a new name of cyber crime has emerged in the whole country, digital arrest. So far people across the country have lost crores of rupees in this type of fraud. In one such case, a court in West Bengal has given its verdict for the first time. The court has convicted 9 accused and sentenced them to life imprisonment.

This verdict was given by the Kalyani court in Nadia district of West Bengal. All 9 people were convicted on Thursday and the Additional Sessions Judge pronounced the sentence on Friday. Special Public Prosecutor Biwas Chatterjee said that this is the first punishment in a digital arrest case in the country. The trial started on 24 February 2025 and was completed in just four and a half months. The entire trial process was completed within eight months of the incident.

This case is of 6 November 2024, when an elderly person Parth Kumar Mukherjee, who is a retired scientist, lodged a complaint with the police. He told that he received a WhatsApp call in which the caller introduced himself as Hemraj Koli, a sub-inspector of Mumbai Police. He told Parth Mukherjee that he is an accused in some financial scam and also sent some documents. The accused threatened him that if he does not obey him, he and his wife will be arrested.

This is how the fraud trapped him in the trap…
The caller ordered him not to disconnect the call and deposited a total of Rs 1 crore in different bank accounts in the name of “digital arrest”. Later when the caller’s number was switched off, Parth Kumar understood that he has been cheated.

On the basis of Parth Kumar’s written complaint, Cyber Crime Police Station, Ranaghat registered a case. During the investigation, the police found out that the call was made from Cambodia and the WhatsApp number was registered from a SIM card issued in India. The accused were based in Cambodia and were well versed with Hindi and Bengali. The money was sent to different Indian accounts, which were in the name of people from different parts of the country.

Out of the 9 accused, 7 received money directly in their accounts. The investigation also revealed that these accused had cheated 108 people across the country in a similar way. The accused were arrested from Maharashtra, Haryana, Gujarat and Rajasthan. A total of 13 people were arrested, out of which a charge sheet was filed against 9.

The witnesses in this case included bank managers from different states of the country and SHO of Mumbai Police.

List of convicts in the case
Jatin Anup Ladwal – Nallasopara, Maharashtra
Rohit Singh – Hisar, Haryana
Rupesh Yadav – Rewari, Haryana
Sahil Singh – Rewari, Haryana
Sumaiya Bano Pathan – Surat, Gujarat
Ashok Faldu – Jamnagar, Gujarat
Mohammad Imtiaz Ansari – Ulhasnagar, Maharashtra
Shahid Ali Shaikh – Ulhasnagar, Maharashtra
Shahrukh Rafiq Shaikh – Thane, Maharashtra
All the convicts have been charged under several sections of the Indian Penal Code and sections 66C and 66D of the IT Act, which deal with cheating, forgery and cyber crime.