Team Goemkarponn
Panaji: The Goa Cyber Crime Police have arrested the alleged mastermind behind the high-profile “digital arrest” cyber fraud of December 2024, taking the total number of arrests in the case to seven.
Police identified the accused as Anil Tripathi, a resident of Marina Bay Financial Center, Singapore. He was intercepted at Delhi airport on August 15 following a Look Out Circular (LOC) and later brought to Goa on transit remand. He is currently in police custody for five days.
The case (No. 57/2024) was registered at the Cyber Crime Police Station, Ribandar, under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNSS) and Section 66-D of the IT Act. According to investigators, between December 26 and 28, 2024, a fraudster posing as a Delhi Police inspector used WhatsApp to threaten a complainant with forged letters bearing the Supreme Court’s name, extorting ₹1 crore through multiple bank transfers.
Based on leads from earlier arrests and technical evidence, investigators traced the operation back to Tripathi. Police said he is a repeat offender, previously arrested in Singapore for a fake tech support scam involving USD 64,000, of which USD 15,000 was allegedly routed to his Indian accounts.
The investigation is being led by SP Rahul Gupta, IPS, and PI Deepak Pednekar. Police confirmed that further inquiry is ongoing.
