Panaji: Goa Cyber Crime Police have arrested a 20-year-old man from Maharashtra in connection with an alleged “digital arrest” fraud in which a resident of Canacona was cheated of Rs 42.60 lakh, officials said on Monday.
The accused, identified as Tejas Narhare, a resident of Nanded in Maharashtra, was arrested following a technical and financial investigation into the case, police said.
The case was registered at the Cyber Crime Police Station, Goa, on March 20 under Sections 318(4), 319(2), and 308 read with Section 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and Section 66-D of the Information Technology Act.
According to police, the complainant was allegedly targeted between January 30 and February 21, 2026, by Narhare and his associates, who impersonated officials of the Department of Telecommunications and officers of the Delhi and Mumbai Crime Branches.
The accused allegedly told the complainant that his Aadhaar card had been misused in connection with a criminal case involving alleged illegal activities linked to Jet Airways officials, police said.
The complainant was subsequently subjected to a so-called “digital arrest” and allegedly coerced into transferring Rs 42,60,094.40 to settle the fabricated case, they said.
During the investigation, police traced the suspect to Nanded.
A team comprising PSI Navin Naik and police constables Yash Kole and Sidramayya Math, under the supervision of PI Deepak Pednekar of the Cyber Crime Police Station, apprehended and arrested Narhare, police said.
The investigation also revealed that Rs 10 lakh from the defrauded amount had been credited to a bank account allegedly belonging to the accused at the second layer of the money trail.
The amount was subsequently withdrawn through a self-cheque, police said.
Narhare was produced before a court and remanded to police custody.
Further investigation is underway to identify the other persons involved and trace the remaining money, police said.
