‘If You Step Out…’: Cyber Criminals Arrest RJD Leader ‘Digitally’ For Hours At His Residence In Patna
The RLD leader received calls from two phone numbers around 10:30 am on April 8, and the caller introduced himself as an officer from the Mumbai Police Cyber Crime Unit.
Rashtriya Janata Dal MLC Mohammad Shoaib was allegedly arrested “digitally" at his Patna residence for hours. Cyber criminals posed as law enforcement officials, extracted his personal information, and kept him under virtual detention for hours, police said.
The FIR, registered on April 10, said that according to Mohammad Shoaib, the accused coerced and threatened him with “legal action and even death" if he attempted to leave his home or seek any assistance.
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The complaint said that the RJD leader received calls from two phone numbers around 10:30 am on April 8, and the caller introduced himself as an officer from the Mumbai Police Cyber Crime Unit.
“They said that I was involved in a money laundering case and had done fraudulent transactions and illegal online activities to the tune of crores through a Canara Bank account in Mumbai," The Indian Express reported, citing the FIR that quoted the MLC as saying.
The RJD MLC added that the fraudsters also cited a fake case number and provided a mobile number linked to the MLC to lend credibility to their claims.
The fraudsters “virtually confined" Shoaib until midnight, repeatedly “threatening him with legal consequences and forcing him to share personal details, including sensitive banking information, to resolve the situation".
“They even extracted my personal information, including Aadhaar number, details of assets such as gold and cash reserves, and a few records of my possessions. They also took my signature on blank paper," the MLC claimed in the complaint.
“They said that if you step out of your house or reach out to others for assistance, chances are that you might even be killed," Mohammad Shoaib further claimed.
After suspecting something was off, Shoaib reached out to law enforcement and filed a complaint to investigate the matter further.
Police have registered a case under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act in connection with the alleged “digital arrest" of the politician.
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