Social Media Influencer Arrested in Pune Over Rs 10.74 Crore Digital Arrest Fraud

According to officials, the influencer, identified as Rohan Jadhav, surrendered in court after police froze all his bank accounts and financial sources.

The incident reportedly took place in January this year when a group of fraudsters posed as Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officers and contacted the elderly man. They told him that he was accused in a case and threatened him with digital arrest. Under the pretext of avoiding legal action, the fraudsters asked him to transfer Rs 10.74 crore to different bank accounts.

The victim later approached the police after realising that he had been defrauded.

Pune police tracked down the accused after one of them withdrew money from an ATM. Subsequently, three people — Harshad Subhash Dhantole, Samarth Suresh Deshmukh, and Amar Shivaji Attargi — were arrested.

During the investigation, Dhantole revealed that he had given the withdrawn money to Jadhav, who was on the run.

Jadhav, originally from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, had transferred the defrauded Rs 10.74 crore amount to a total of 5,436 bank accounts, the investigation revealed. He was also in contact with individuals in Hong Kong through the Telegram app and frequently spoke with them on video calls.

Police said Jadhav conducted financial transactions with his Hong Kong handlers using digital cryptocurrency and received substantial commissions for transferring money from India to foreign currency.