A 78-year-old man from Ahmedabad, who allegedly assisted cyber criminals in defrauding a senior citizen of over Rs 1 crore by impersonating CBI officers, has been arrested from Gujarat. Baldev Bhai Babu Bhai Brahmbhatt was taken into custody by the central team of the Faridabad Cyber Police Station from Ahmedabad on June 9. He was subsequently produced before a local court, which sent him to judicial custody after a resident of Faridabad Sector 85 filed a complaint.
The Fraudulent Scheme
The victim reported that on March 30, he received a phone call from an individual claiming to be a CBI officer. The caller alleged that a bank account had been opened in the victim's name in Bengaluru and was being used for serious crimes, including money laundering and human trafficking. The fraudsters threatened the victim with arrest and legal action, convincing him that, as part of an official investigation, the money in his bank accounts needed to be transferred to designated accounts for verification under the instructions of the Reserve Bank of India and the Supreme Court.
To make their claims appear genuine, the scammers sent forged documents bearing fake seals of the RBI, the Income Tax Department, and the Supreme Court. Believing the story to be true, the victim transferred a total of Rs 1.2 crore from different bank accounts over several transactions in April 2024. When he later attempted to recover the money, all contact numbers used by the fraudsters were found to be switched off. A case was subsequently registered by the police.
Role of the Accused
According to police, Brahmbhatt played a key role by arranging and providing a bank account that was used to receive part of the fraud amount. Investigators found that approximately Rs 32 lakh from the cheated money was transferred into this account. The account belonged to a resident of Jaipur named Amit, who had known Brahmbhatt for several years. Brahmbhatt called Amit to Ahmedabad, collected his banking details, and kept him in a hotel for nearly 10 days while the account was being used by cyber fraudsters. Once the account stopped functioning, Amit was sent back. Police had earlier arrested Amit, the account holder, in connection with the case.
