PANAJI
The Goa Police Cyber Crime Cell has arrested two persons from Assam in connection with an inter-State cyber fraud case amounting to Rs 1.42 crore.
The case, registered on December 31, 2025, is based on a complaint filed by a Bicholim resident who alleged that he was cheated in a ‘digital arrest’ scam. The arrested accused have been identified as Ashadul Islam (24), a resident of Nagaon district, Assam, and Yasmina Ahmed (32), a resident of Morigaon district, Assam.
The complainant had alleged that the accused impersonated officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Supreme Court of India, using multiple WhatsApp numbers to place him under “digital arrest”. The victim was allegedly coerced into transferring Rs 1,42,04,868 to several bank accounts.
Superintendent of Police (Cyber Crime) Rahul Gupta said that based on a technical analysis of communications between the fraudsters and the victim, a special team of the Crime Branch traced the accused to Nagaon district and arrested them.
During verification, police found that both accused had earlier been arrested in a case registered at Nagaon police station for similar cyber fraud offences. In that case, the Assam police had seized 358 SIM cards, five mobile phones, a Wi-Fi router, a DVR and a laptop.
The SP said the same mobile phones were found to have been used in the Goa case as well, and the seizure already effected by the Assam police will be included as part of the Goa Cyber Crime investigation.
"The same mobile numbers were also linked to another ‘digital arrest’ complaint registered in Goa involving a fraud amount of Rs 63.50 lakh.
During the probe, it was found that the accused were operating multiple mobile numbers using common IMEI devices. These devices have been linked to several cyber fraud complaints across the country, indicating that the accused are key links in a larger financial fraud network,” he said.
Police said it is expected that several pending cases across States may be solved based on these linkages, and acknowledged receiving “excellent cooperation” from its counterparts in Assam during the operation.
