In a significant breakthrough, the Motihari Cyber Police have arrested Akash Mukherjee, a notorious cybercriminal from Katihar, for allegedly defrauding a retired government employee of Rs56 lakh through an elaborate CBI impersonation scam.
According to Motihari Superintendent of Police Swarn Prabhat, Mukherjee — a BTech graduate — was wanted in over 21 cyber fraud cases across eight Indian states. Despite his criminal background, he had managed to evade arrest until a specialized cybercrime unit traced him using technical surveillance.
The victim, Dilip Kumar, a retired official from the Agriculture Department, and his wife were targeted through a video call in February 2025, where the accused posed as a CBI officer. In the call, Mukherjee used a fake CBI office backdrop and accused the couple of treason, threatening them with imprisonment or death unless they complied with his demands.
Frightened and convinced of the accusations, the elderly couple transferred ₹56 lakh across multiple accounts under pressure. Kumar later filed an FIR, leading to the unraveling of the fraud.
A technical investigation of the fund transfers revealed that the money ended up in bank accounts linked to Akash Mukherjee, a resident of Katihar. A police team quickly raided his house and arrested him on Saturday night.
Investigators discovered that Mukherjee, frustrated by his inability to secure a job, joined a cybercrime syndicate based in West Bengal. To cover his activities, he opened a hardware shop in Katihar as a front for laundering money.
Motihari police are actively using cyber forensics and surveillance tools to crack down on digital frauds. In a related development, officials recently busted a transnational cybercrime ring with links to Pakistan and Nepal.
