TIRUNELVELI: Tirunelveli City Cyber Crime police on Tuesday arrested three men from Kerala for allegedly cheating a 61-year-old retired Tamil Nadu transport corporation ticket examiner of Rs 28.5 lakh by posing as NIA and police officers and threatening him with a “digital arrest.”

A special team arrested Ravikumar (52) of Neduvelikkadu, Ernakulam district,Dinesh (52) of Viswapuram, and Abdul Samad (50) of Edakkad, Kannur district. They were remanded in judicial custody.

According to the police, Ananthappan of Tirunelveli received a call from an unknown person on October 6. The caller introduced himself as Sandeep Raj, a senior inspector of the NIA police in Mumbai. He claimed that bank accounts had been opened in six states using Ananthappan’s mobile number and that money had been transferred to Naxal extremists. After creating panic, the caller disconnected the call.

The next day, another person contacted Ananthappan on a WhatsApp video call, introduced himself as a senior police officer and threatened to place him under “digital arrest.” The caller said an Additional Director General of Police named Viswas would contact him soon, and collected his bank account and savings details.

Under the pretext of an investigation, the gang threatened him further and made him transfer Rs 28.50 lakh to a bank account whose details they shared, the police said.

The next day, Ananthappan went near the Tachanallur police station and tried to contact the callers on a WhatsApp video call, but the call was disconnected.

Raising suspicion, Ananthappan told his son and son-in-law, who informed him that he had been cheated. He then filed a complaint with the City Cyber Crime police station.

City Police Commissioner Deshmukh Sekhar Sanjay directed Inspector Anitha to investigate under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner of Police Saravanan. The police team rushed to Kerala and arrested the accused.