In a cybercrime case straight out of a Bollywood thriller, fraudsters “digitally arrested” a 71-year-old woman from Matunga, staged a fake online court trial, and extorted Rs 4.82 crore from her after falsely declaring her guilty in a fabricated case. According to police sources, the Central Cyber Police arrested two men in connection with the case—Bapi Das, 53, and Saurish Nag, 41—both residents of Kolkata.

They are allegedly part of a cyber fraud gang that provided bank accounts to transfer defrauded money. During the investigation, it was revealed that R30 lakh was transferred to Das’s account and Rs 25 lakh to Nag’s. The victim, a senior citizen, first received a call in December from an unknown number regarding a mobile recharge. Two days later, she got another call instructing her to press “9” to speak to a customer care representative. Trusting the caller, she complied.