Based on information shared by the Bengaluru city cybercrime police during the probe, the Belagavi police secured body warrants against the duo and took them into custody for further investigation.

Further investigation by the Cyber Command Unit revealed that the accused N Sivagnanam was allegedly involved in four other cyber fraud cases, while Akkach Mallick was linked to three additional cybercrime cases in different parts of the country.

Investigators are now probing whether the accused were operating as part of an organised interstate cyber fraud syndicate involved in impersonation scams, mule bank account operations, and laundering of proceeds of crime.

The Bengaluru city cybercrime police initially arrested the accused in connection with the cheating of Laxmi Ramamurthy, a retired teacher residing in Shivajinagar, Bengaluru. The case was registered under Sections 66C and 66D of the Information Technology Act and Sections 319(2) and 308(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

The police said the victim was targeted by fraudsters posing as senior officials of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), who falsely accused her of involvement in a money laundering case and kept her under ‘digital arrest’ for several weeks.

Investigators said she was coerced into transferring nearly Rs 24 crore between February 10 and April 24, through 26 transactions into 23 mule bank accounts linked to 10 different banks across the country.

The fraud came to light after a Bengaluru bank manager grew suspicious when the woman approached the bank to pledge nearly 1 kilogram of gold to raise the funds allegedly demanded. The police said the timely intervention prevented an additional loss of nearly Rs 3 crore.

The Cyber Command Unit said the police have so far recovered Rs 1.46 crore linked to the fraud, while another Rs 1.40 crore is currently under recovery. Officials added that several mule accounts were frozen through the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP), helping authorities prevent the diversion of more than Rs 4 crore.

“We are continuing efforts to identify the remaining accused involved in the network, trace the interstate money trail, and recover the remaining proceeds of crime,” a senior police officer associated with the investigation said.