Mumbai: A month after police registered a case where a city widow was placed under “digital arrest” and duped of Rs 60 lakh in cash from outside her residence, the crime branch police have arrested four Jalgaon residents. Two of the arrested accused worked in Cambodia at an Indian restaurant run by the main accused, who is still on the run.The arrested men are Jayesh Kale, 27, Sanket Mahajan, 29, Yeshwant Dhande, 26, and Vinod Atarde, 29. Police said Kale was a manager and Mahajan a chef at the Cambodia restaurant. Police have not disclosed the main accused’s name, saying their probe was at a crucial juncture but disclosed that he is from Jalgaon. He moved to Cambodia in 2023, and worked at a call centre, making calls to cheat victims in India. “Last year, he spoke to the complainant and posed as a Mumbai DCP. He decided to collect the fraud amount himself. He was to give bank account numbers given to him by his company, but he asked her to arrange cash instead. He sent his men twice to collect money. He used it to repay loans, buy a new car, stay in a hotel with his Cambodian female friend, and got other accused to buy US dollars. We have learnt that he is currently in Cambodia,” said a police source.Investigators said the fraudsters fabricated a money laundering case and pressured the 58-year-old complainant into selling gold and property to clear her late husband’s alleged Rs 1 crore loan. The accused allegedly collected Rs 60 lakh in cash in two instalments — Rs 35 lakh and Rs 25 lakh — from her residence in Jogeshwari. The main accused posed as a Mumbai DCP during video calls. When the “police personnel” stopped responding to her calls, the woman realised she had been cheated and lodged an FIR. Police said that during the first collection, accused Mahajan and Dhande hired a car in Jalgaon, travelled to Jogeshwari, collected Rs 35 lakh, and returned to Jalgaon. Investigators traced the IP address linked to the accused’s WhatsApp number to Cambodia. Through technical intelligence, police identified several frequently contacted numbers. The lead eventually helped police trace the accused to Jalgaon, leading to the arrests.The probe was led by DCP Purushottam Karad, SI Suvarna Shinde, sub-inspector Deepak Tayde, assistant inspector Poonam Jadhav, and staff members Keshav Takik, Amol Phaphale, and Shashank Chile.
