Ahmedabad: Four men were arrested by the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Police on Wednesday for allegedly defrauding an elderly man of Rs 1.26 crore by threatening him with imprisonment on false charges of money laundering.

The accused, identified as Mohammedali Javedali Patawat, Tarunsinh Shyam Vaghela, Brijesh Bharat Parekh, and Shubham Rajkumar Thakar, impersonated Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officers and even posed as the Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, according to the police.

On October 7, the victim received calls from the accused, who falsely claimed that transactions exceeding Rs 2 crore had been made from his bank account. They threatened him with arrest and a five-year prison sentence for money laundering. The fraudsters told the man, a senior citizen with no close relatives, that they could petition the Supreme Court on his behalf to avoid arrest if he cooperated with the “investigation” via video call.

During the video calls, the accused convinced the man to disclose his bank details, break his fixed deposit, and transfer Rs 1.26 crore to them, assuring him he would get the money back within 48 hours after “verification.” They even provided a fake Supreme Court certificate to deceive him further.

The funds were then transferred to other co-conspirators. The police are continuing their investigation.