BJP MP Dr Sudhakar’s wife becomes victim of digital arrest scam

BENGALURU: Dr Preethi Sudhakar, the wife of former minister and Chikkaballapur BJP MP Dr K Sudhakar was duped out of ₹14 lakh in a digital arrest scam by cyber fraudsters who posed as officials from the Mumbai Cyber Crime Department.

Dr Preethi Sudhakar received a call on August 26, claiming to be from the Mumbai Cyber Crime Police. The caller alleged that her documents had been misused by someone named Sadbhat Khan to create a credit card and conduct illegal transactions.

The scammers them put Dr Preethi under ‘digital arrest’, threatening her that her documents would be cancelled and her bank account was illegal. They demanded ₹14 lakh to resolve the issue, promising to return the money within 45 minutes after verifying RBI rules.

The scammers kept Dr Preethi on a video call, warning her not to hang up until the money was deposited. They also threatened to reveal her husband’s alleged involvement in money laundering to the media if she didn’t comply. Dr Preeti was forced to transfer ₹14 lakh to the scammers’ account through RTGS. She later filed a complaint, and the police immediately froze the scammers’ accounts and recovered the ₹14 lakh. An FIR has been registered against the unknown persons involved in the scam and further investigation is under way.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Girish said, “The cyber criminals took money from Dr Preethi after threatening her. Later, after getting suspicious, she lodged a complaint and we immediately took up investigation. We got the bank accounts, to which the money was transferred, frozen and recovered the amout. People should be careful while making online transactions with unknown people”.