Pune: A mule account holder, husband of a sarpanch, was arrested from a house in Panvel around 4.30am on Friday in connection with the Rs6.3 crore digital arrest fraud.The suspect has been identified as Tushar Harischandra Wajantri (28), a resident of Roha in Raigarh district. His wife is the sarpanch of a nearby village.The cyber police of Pune zeroed in on Wajantri in the case of online fraudsters cheating a top executive with a Mumbai-based software company in November last year by impersonating as CBI officials. He was kept under digital arrest for five days in his Pashan residence under the pretext of verifying and investigating a bogus money laundering case against him.A police team comprising senior inspector Swapnali Shinde, and police constables Janavi Bhandekar, Sandeep Pawar, Sandeep Yadav, Raju Chavan, and Satish Mandhare studied the money trail of the case. “We soon realised that Rs20 lakh out of the Rs6.3 crore was transferred to Wajantri’s current account. He runs a small construction business,” Shinde said.“Wajantri had given his current account as a mule account against commission to his handlers, the masterminds of digital arrest scams. A study of his bank account revealed that it received money from various bank accounts across India. A total of Rs4.27 crore was deposited in his account,” she said.“Wajantri’s father is on the run. We are searching for him,” Shinde said.“The Kerala, Bihar and West Bengal police were also searching for Wajantri in connection with digital arrest cases registered there. About two months ago, the Kerala police visited Roha and went to his residence. He lef his home thereafter and kept changing his location. We managed to track him down in a house at Panvel,” Shinde said.
