Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: The Cyber Crime Police Station, Goa, has arrested a Maharashtra resident in connection with a high-value “digital arrest” fraud case involving ₹2.8 crore.
The offence, registered on October 16, 2025, under Crime No. 40/2025, pertains to a complaint filed by a resident of Cansaulim, South Goa.
The complainant was duped between September 4 and October 9, 2025, by fraudsters impersonating Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers through WhatsApp numbers.
The accused falsely claimed that the victim’s Aadhaar card was linked to a money laundering case and coerced him into transferring ₹2.8 crore in four RTGS transactions to different bank accounts.
Following a detailed technical and financial investigation, a police team traced and arrested Diwakar Varun Jha (30), resident of Taloje Majkur, Raigarh, Maharashtra.
The arrest was executed by a team led by PSI Manesh Dabhale and PCs Devendra Kunkolikar and Siddesh Palni, under the supervision of SP Rahul Gupta, IPS, ASP Smt. B.V. Shridevi, IPS, and PI Deepak Pednekar.
Investigations revealed that ₹50 lakh was first received in the accused’s bank account and then routed to multiple accounts of his associates.
The same account was found linked to 11 other cyber fraud cases across several states, including Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Mizoram, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Gujarat, and Goa, collectively amounting to ₹7.47 crore.
The accused has been remanded to police custody, while further investigation is being carried out under the supervision of PI Deepak Pednekar, Cyber Crime Police Station, Goa.
