Enforcement Directorate arrests Assam woman in Rs 7 crore digital arrest scam

Assam resident Rumi Kalita has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a digital arrest scam that cheated Ludhiana-based industrialist S P Oswal of more than Rs 7 crore, officials said.

The ED said Kalita allegedly offered and operated mule accounts used to route cheated funds for a fixed share. “The amounts cheated from victims were immediately diverted by a group of persons in various mule accounts, and credentials of those accounts were being used by one Rumi Kalita in lieu of a certain percentage of cheated money,” an ED spokesperson said.

Kalita was produced before a court and remanded to ED custody till January 2, 2026. Investigators said evidence collected during searches indicates she was “deeply involved in the diversion and layering of the proceeds of crime”.

Her arrest followed searches at 11 locations across Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Assam under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. “Various incriminating documents and digital devices were recovered and seized during search proceedings,” the spokesperson said.

The case centres on a cyber fraud in which criminals placed Oswal under a so-called digital arrest by impersonating officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation and using forged official and judicial documents. The ED said the fraudsters forced him to transfer Rs 7 crore into multiple accounts, of which Rs 5.24 crore has been recovered and returned.

According to the agency, the remaining funds were moved into mule accounts opened in the names of various entities and individuals, including labourers and delivery personnel, before being withdrawn in cash or further diverted.

The money laundering probe was launched on the basis of 10 FIRs registered by different police agencies against the same group of cybercriminals. An earlier round of searches on January 31 had also led to the seizure of documents linked to the case, the ED said.