CBI's Operation Chakra-VI targets the money trail behind India's digital arrest scams

AI-generated editorial illustration by CyberShitty. Not a photograph or a document from the organisations named.

Since June 2026 the CBI has raided scores of locations in more than 20 states, going after the account holders, shell firms and APK operators who launder digital arrest money. On 27 September it said 17 people were arrested in 30 days.

01 / What happened

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has stepped up Operation Chakra-VI, its nationwide campaign against the networks behind "digital arrest" fraud. In these scams, criminals posing as police or officials hold victims on video calls and extort money. The operation has gone through three publicly reported phases:

• 25 June 2026 — launch. 60 special teams searched more than 80 locations in 16 states, looking into a network linked to more than 200 digital arrest cases. Two men, from Chennai and Kolkata, were arrested for allegedly setting up shell companies and running mule accounts that moved nearly ₹2 crore. The CBI also found a fake website made to look like the Supreme Court's, used with forged court orders to intimidate victims. (ETV Bharat).
• 4 September 2026 — 89 locations, 20 states. Searches in three cases the CBI took over from the states, with alleged losses of ₹42.36 crore: a victim linked to BITS Pilani (₹7.67 crore, held for three months), a Gujarat victim (₹19.24 crore, three months) and a Karnataka victim (₹15.45 crore, one month). Three people were arrested in Haryana and Kolkata, and five more by 6 September, bringing the total in these cases to eight (IANS via National Herald; PTI via Telangana Today).
• 27 September 2026 — Gujarat ₹11.42 crore case. Searches at 22 locations in 10 states; the CBI arrested Himanshu Prasad and Unis Biswas. The victim was allegedly held for three months by people posing as police and TRAI officials. The CBI alleges the two received ₹2.5 crore via a company account and passed it to accomplices (CBI; Deccan Chronicle).

On 27 September the CBI said that in four cases it had searched 142 locations in 22 states over the past 30 days and arrested 17 people.

02 / Why it matters

The operation goes after the laundering layer, not the callers, who are often abroad. Those arrested are accused of opening or renting out bank accounts, receiving crores of rupees, withdrawing cash and splitting the rest across more accounts on the same day. In one case, the CBI says the accused installed a malicious APK on the account holder's phone. It intercepted bank SMS alerts so the gang could run the account secretly.

The push follows the Supreme Court's suo motu case on digital arrests. In its order of 4 August 2026, the court recorded earlier CBI searches at 93 locations in 16 states, and 67 first-layer bank accounts identified by tracing transactions (LiveLaw). In the same order, the court asked the RBI to write a procedure for putting debit holds on mule accounts.

03 / Who is exposed

• Older and professional people with savings. The three September cases involved ₹7.67 crore to ₹19.24 crore each, and victims held for up to three months.
• Anyone asked to "lend" a bank account, open a current account for a shell firm, or install an app that forwards SMS messages. These are the people the CBI is now arresting.
• Businesses whose accounts could be used as a first layer. In one case the money went into a registered company's account.

04 / Confirmed vs. claimed

Confirmed: the CBI's own statements on searches, arrests, case values and alleged roles, including its 27 September press release, as reported by PTI, IANS and ETV Bharat. Claimed / unconfirmed: everything said about individual accused is an allegation, and no one has been convicted. The CBI has not published a single total of arrests or money frozen for Chakra-VI as a whole. The June figure of "more than 200 cases" describes one network's reach, not the operation's total.

05 / What to do now

• No police officer, CBI officer or court will hold you on a video call or ask you to transfer money to "clear" your name. End the call.
• If you have paid, call 1930 at once and file a complaint at cybercrime.gov.in. Give the exact account numbers and transaction IDs.
• Never let anyone use your bank account, and never open accounts in your name for others. Money-mule account holders are being arrested.
• Do not install APK files sent over WhatsApp or SMS.
• Report the calling number via Chakshu on Sancharsaathi.gov.in.