Two Held for Posing as Cybercrime Officers, Extorting ₹19.9 Lakh from Chennai Man

The Chennai police have arrested two men from Maharashtra for allegedly impersonating Mumbai Cyber Crime officers and extorting nearly ₹19.9 lakh from a city resident under the pretext of clearing his name from a fake criminal case.

According to police sources, the victim, identified as Santhosh A.V. (33) of Ashok Nagar, lodged a complaint with the South Zone Cyber Crime Police Station on September 24. In his statement, he said that he had received a call on August 12 from an unknown number. The caller, pretending to be a courier service agent, claimed that a parcel booked using Santhosh’s Aadhaar number contained expired passports, credit cards, clothes, and banned LSD drugs.

Soon after, another set of callers introduced themselves as officials from the Mumbai Cyber Crime unit and later from the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). They told Santhosh that his Aadhaar card had been misused for illegal money transfers linked to terrorism, and warned that he could face arrest unless he paid a sum to “settle” the case.

Believing their claims, Santhosh reportedly took a personal loan of ₹19.92 lakh from ICICI Bank and transferred the amount to the accounts specified by the fraudsters.

Following a detailed investigation, a special police team traced the suspects to Aurangabad, Maharashtra, and arrested Naresh Kalyan Rao Shinde (20) and Srikanth Suresh Rao Khatkar (34). The duo was brought to Chennai, produced before a magistrate, and remanded in judicial custody.

Police have urged the public to stay alert against such scams, stressing that law enforcement agencies never demand money to “clear” individuals from investigations. An inquiry is underway to determine if more people are involved in the racket.