Ramakrishna Mission Ashram monk in digital arrest for 26 days, Mission loses Rs 2.5 crore

BHOPAL: Cybercriminals, impersonating Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials, have duped Swami Supradiptananda, secretary of Ramakrishna Mission Ashram in Gwalior, of Rs 2.5 crore after keeping him under 'digital arrest' for 26 days, police said on Wednesday.
SP Dharamveer Singh said an SIT has been set up to probe the case. The fraudsters threatened him with arrest under a fabricated money laundering investigation linked to Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal.

The first call came on March 15. The caller claimed that the swami was under investigation for a Rs 20 crore transaction allegedly linked to Goyal. The fraudsters referenced real developments in the Goyal case and used forged documents to make their story convincing.
In digital arrest, monk told to keep quiet, share selfies
They referred to the Nov 2023 ED prosecution complaint against Goyal, his wife, and associated companies in a money laundering case in which Canara Bank suffered huge losses.
The fraudsters sent Swami Supradiptananda a forged bank statement showing a Canara Bank account opened in his name, allegedly used in suspicious transactions. They also shared a fake PDF of the account's transaction history and links that appeared to be from investigative agencies, claiming the swami's Aadhaar card had been used to open the account.
They told him the money in the Ramakrishna Mission's account needed to be "verified" and that RBI would return it after investigation - a promise that turned out to be false.
Believing the documents, the swami agreed to cooperate. Over the next 26 days, he complied with the fraudsters' demands. They executed a psychological operation, demanding hourly updates via WhatsApp - including his live location and selfies. He was warned not to talk to anyone - not even family or ashram officials - or he would face up to 7 years in prison and a Rs 5 lakh fine.
Under the pretext of secrecy and investigation, they also extracted information about his family and convinced him to share full bank details of the ashram. Using forged ED and other agency documents, they pressured him into authorizing transactions. In total, Rs 2,52,99,000 was transferred to multiple unknown accounts.
On April 11, when the promised refund hadn't come through, and repeated calls went unanswered, Swami Supradiptananda realized he had been scammed.
He approached SP Dharamveer Singh, and the cyber cell registered a case. SP Singh told TOI that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed, and teams have been dispatched to West Bengal, Assam, and other locations. One of the accounts where the funds were routed has been traced to Chhatarpur in MP. Swami Supradiptananda has been associated with Ramakrishna Mission Ashram in Gwalior since 2014.