In a significant crackdown on cyber fraud, the Enforcement Directorate’s Jalandhar Zonal Office has attached bank balances worth ₹1.76 crore linked to a brazen digital arrest scam targeting a prominent industrialist. The provisional attachment order, issued on February 14, 2026, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, freezes funds in the account of M/s Mrityunjay Multitrade, a mule entity used to park and transfer illicit proceeds from multiple cybercrimes.
The investigation stemmed from an FIR registered by the Cyber Crime Police Station in Ludhiana under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023. Fraudsters, posing as Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials, duped S.P. Oswal, Chairman of the renowned Vardhman Group, into believing he was under digital arrest. In August 2023, they swindled ₹7 crore from him through a network of over 200 mule accounts.
Key accused Rumi Kalita and Arpit Rathore orchestrated the transfers via several shell accounts, including those of M/s Frozenman Warehousing and Logistics and M/s Riglo Ventures Private Limited. These accounts laundered money from various scams, with proceeds systematically layered through vulnerable individuals lured by false promises of jobs or loans. A portion of the funds was even routed abroad via trade-based laundering mechanisms.
ED raids on January 31, December 22, and December 31, 2025, led to the arrests of Kalita on December 23 and Rathore on December 31. Both remain in judicial custody. The probe has uncovered additional victims defrauded of nearly ₹1.73 crore, exposing a vast syndicate with possible international links. As investigations continue, more arrests and asset seizures are anticipated, underscoring ED’s resolve against digital fraud networks terrorizing India’s business elite.