An 81-year-old retired school principal, Nandini Chiplunkar, has been duped of Rs 1.02 crores through a digital arrest scam. The scam involved fraudsters claiming to be from Mumbai’s Colaba Police and CBI, alleging that Chiplunkar was involved in financial dealings with Naresh Goyal of Jet Airways and money laundering.
According to Additional DCP of Crime Branch, Rajesh Dandotiya, on April 27, Chiplunkar received a call stating that her SIM would be deactivated. The fraudsters claimed that there were 267 FIRs against her and kept her under digital arrest for two days. They convinced her to deposit Rs 1 crore in a fake account in exchange for closing the case.
While speaking to media on June 2, DCP Dandotiya said, “On April 27, Nandini, who retired as principal of Central School, received a call saying that her SIM was going to get deactivated…they said there was legal action being taken against her and there are 267 an FIRs against her…throughout the night she was kept on digital arrest…”.
#WATCH | Indore, MP: 81-year-old retired school principal duped of Rs 1.02 crores through digital arrest
Rajesh Dandotiya, Additional DCP, Crime Branch says, " On April 27th, Nandini, who retired as principal of Central School, received a call saying that her SIM was going to… pic.twitter.com/tRCDpLfXJe
— ANI (@ANI) June 1, 2025
However, when Chiplunkar went to the bank to break her fixed deposit of Rs 50 lakhs, the bank manager suspected something was amiss and informed the Crime Branch. The officials intervened, and Chiplunkar was able to save her fixed deposit money.
“Next day they managed to convince her and she went to break her fixed deposit of Rs 50 lakhs… The bank manager realised that there is some trouble by looking at her face, he said that the server is down and asked her to come back next day and then the Bank Manager immediately informed me…later, I spoke to her and convinced that it was a fake call, and she was convinced…She switched off her phone. But, after two days, she started receiving calls again. We met her and explained to her that such digital arrest calls are fake…she lost Rs 1.02 crores, but because the bank was alert, she didn’t lose her fixed deposit money…”, DCP Dandotiya added.
The Crime Branch has taken Chiplunkar’s complaint and is investigating the matter. No case has been filed yet, and the authorities are working to identify the accused.
(with inputs from ANI)
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