A 70-year-old retired teacher from Pulivendula in Kadapa district died of heart attack reportedly after he was subjected to the digital arrest scam, wherein he lost ₹1.62 crore in phases to cybercriminals.
Putlur Prakasham Reddy received a number of calls between May 27 and June 6 from scammers who claimed they were calling from “CBI headquarters in Mumbai”. They threatened to arrest him in connection with what they termed as a “money laundering case”. They showed him fabricated screenshots of his ATM card having been found at an arrested business tycoon’s house. Under pressure, he transferred a total amount of ₹1.62 crore into various accounts before suffering the heart attack, according to his son, Hitesh Reddy.
Following a complaint, the Pulivendula police registered a case. The investigation found that the culprits routed the money into three mule/forged accounts and later converted it into crypto currency. The police arrested Ajja Alli Chikkaraju Madhu (36), Roshan Ullas Vemekar (37), Suresh Sanketh Naidu (29) and Harish Srinivas (27) of Bengaluru; and Aditya Manohar (29) and Arjun Nelamakala (34) of Mandya in connection with the case.
Superintendent of Police Shelke Nachiket Vishwanath told the media that a search has been launched to nab a private bank employee accused of complicity, an auditor, a joint account holder and a resident of Delhi.
Published – November 28, 2025 08:19 pm IST
