Delhi Police have arrested a 51-year-old jewellery showroom owner for his alleged role in a cyber fraud case in which Rs1.9 crore was siphoned off from an elderly couple living in Faridabad’s Sector 29, officials said on Wednesday.
The accused, identified as Amit Shakuja, a resident of Tagore Garden in West Delhi, owns a jewellery showroom named VS Jewellers, police confirmed. Shakuja was arrested on January 23 and produced before a local court the following day, which granted a three-day police remand. He was later sent to judicial custody on Tuesday.
Faridabad police public relations officer Yashpal Yadav said Shakuja had allegedly used his firm’s credentials to open a mule current bank account, which was then shared with a suspect linked to an organised cyber fraud network. Investigators revealed that Rs10.1 lakh from the total defrauded amount was routed through Shakuja’s account.
“So far, we have managed to freeze nearly Rs30 lakh out of the Rs1.9 crore across multiple bank accounts. Raids are underway at various locations to trace other account holders and gang members involved in the fraud,” Yadav added.
According to investigators, the victims—both in their late 70s—received a phone call on December 9 from a fraudster impersonating a Reserve Bank of India official. The caller falsely claimed that the couple’s bank accounts were linked to money laundering activities and coerced them into transferring funds for “verification.”
Under pressure, the victims transferred money to eight mule accounts spread across Uttarakhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Punjab and other states. By December 19, the couple had lost ₹Rs.9 crore. An FIR was registered last month at the Cyber Crime Central Police Station in Faridabad under Section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, dealing with cheating and dishonest inducement.
