Pune: The Pune cyber police arrested a 26-year-old social media influencer for his alleged role in cheating an elderly man of Rs1.74 crore in a digital arrest scam.The suspect Rohan Rajeshwar Jadhav surrendered before a city court, following which police arrested him.Senior inspector Swapnali Shinde told TOI, “Jadhav, a native of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, used to provide mule bank accounts to the fraudsters, and we suspect that they used these accounts to cheat several people,” she said.The fraudsters had cheated the 82-year-old retired businessman from the Deccan area of Rs10.73 crore by threatening to digitally arrest him in connection with a money-laundering case involving a former aviation businessman.Shinde said, “We studied these transactions and zeroed in on the bank accounts after establishing the money trail. There was a network of mule bank accounts, and they were operated by different people.”In Feb this year, the police arrested Shubham Dhanatole (26) and his accomplice (24) in the case. Another suspect, Amar Ataragi (24), was arrested in March. “During their questioning, we received information about Jadhav,” Shinde said.She said, “Jadhav is active on social media and posts short videos on video-sharing platforms since 2022. His accounts are followed by many.”
