CBI's Operation Chakra-V targets digital-arrest fraud networks

Between April 2025 and February 2026, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) carried out a sequence of nationwide search-and-arrest operations under the banner of Operation Chakra-V, targeting networks the agency links to "digital arrest" cyber fraud and the mule bank accounts and SIM-card supply chains that feed it. These are distinct investigations at the search-and-arrest stage: no charge has been proved, no court has recorded a finding of guilt, and the investigations are continuing.

What the Record Shows

The operation is a series, not a single case. On 26 June 2025, per official accounts, the CBI searched 42 locations across five states, Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, and arrested nine persons in an action focused on mule bank accounts used in cyber fraud. The agency pointed to roughly 8.5 lakh mule accounts across some 700 bank branches said to have been opened without proper know-your-customer checks. Those arrested were described as middlemen, agents, account holders and bank correspondents who allegedly facilitated the accounts.

Earlier, on or around 11 May 2025, the CBI searched 42 locations across eight states, Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, against a SIM-card supply racket the agency says fed digital-arrest fraud. Further Chakra-V actions followed in October 2025 and February 2026 across multiple states.

In each action the CBI recorded seizures of bank documents, debit cards, chequebooks and digital devices. The agency has presented these as distinct cases with their own reference numbers rather than one consolidated matter, and has not publicly named the persons arrested.

How It Worked

The mechanism the CBI describes begins with a cold call. A victim is contacted by a person impersonating an official of a body such as the telecom regulator, the police, the CBI, the Enforcement Directorate or customs, and told that a parcel, SIM card or bank account in their name is implicated in a crime. The caller then places the victim under a fictitious "digital arrest", keeping them on a video call under threat and instruction, and directs them to transfer money to prove their innocence. There is no such thing as a digital arrest in Indian law; the term describes the fraud, not any lawful process.

In one case the CBI took over from the Cyber Police Station at Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan, and the agency's account is that a single victim was extorted of about Rs 7.67 crore across 42 separate transactions over more than three months. That case, per the CBI, illustrates how the pressure is sustained rather than a one-off transfer.

According to the CBI, the enabling infrastructure is the real target of Operation Chakra-V. The agency describes fraudulently procured SIM cards, large numbers of mule bank accounts opened to receive and move money, and shell companies incorporated to layer the proceeds, with investigators pointing to Bengaluru among the places where such entities were set up. The CBI has also characterised parts of the network as being handled from scam compounds in South-East Asia, and a linked strand of the wider Operation Chakra work, coordinated with the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, concerned a ring reported at about Rs 70.5 crore. These are the investigators' characterisations at this stage, not judicial findings.

Who Lost Money

The victims in these cases are individual members of the public rather than any single institution, and the CBI's accounts indicate that senior citizens and professionals with accessible savings are disproportionately targeted. The Jhunjhunu case, where one person is said to have paid about Rs 7.67 crore across 42 transactions, shows how large an individual loss can become when the victim is kept under sustained psychological pressure.

Because these are live investigations, the total sum said to have passed through the networks is not fixed, and recovery for victims typically lags far behind the amount lost: money routed through mule accounts and layered through shell companies is hard to trace and return. What the CBI has recovered so far is largely evidentiary, being bank records, cards, chequebooks and devices, rather than restored funds.

The government has reported that complaints of digital-arrest fraud fell sharply in 2025 after a surge in 2024, an improvement it attributes to enforcement of this kind together with public-awareness efforts. That is a trend the authorities describe; it does not translate into recovery for those who have already lost money.

Where It Stands Now

As of today, the Operation Chakra-V matters are at the investigation stage. The CBI has made a series of arrests across 2025 and into February 2026 and continues to investigate the networks, the mule-account pipelines and the overseas handlers. No trial in these matters has concluded, and no court has recorded a finding of guilt against any of those arrested.

An FIR and an arrest contain allegations, not findings of guilt; those arrested are presumed innocent until proven guilty, and due process continues. The persons taken into custody have not been convicted, and the characterisations of the network, including the overseas links, are the CBI's investigative position rather than adjudicated fact.

The individual actions are separate cases with their own reference numbers, and each will follow its own course through the courts. Aggregating them into a single figure would misstate the record; what the record shows is a coordinated enforcement campaign made up of distinct investigations.

What It Means

Operation Chakra-V is useful less as a single dramatic case than as a map of how call-and-app-based fraud is built and how it is being pursued. The fraud depends on two things a member of the public can guard against: the impersonation of authority, and the willingness to move money under pressure. No genuine agency, whether the police, the CBI, the Enforcement Directorate, the telecom regulator or customs, conducts an "arrest" over a video call or demands a transfer to prove innocence. A call that does either is the fraud.

The practical protection is simple and worth repeating. End the call, do not transfer money, and verify independently through an official number or the national cyber-crime helpline 1930 and the portal cybercrime.gov.in. Because the money moves through mule accounts fast, the first hour matters most for any chance of a freeze. Readers can follow related enforcement through the Oquilia enforcement archive, and can compare this campaign with other CBI work such as the corruption charges in the Kerala cashew import case and with regulatory matters such as the SFIO inquiry into IndusInd Bank.

The wider significance is that enforcement here is aimed at the plumbing, the SIM cards, mule accounts and shell companies, rather than only the callers. Disrupting that infrastructure is what the CBI says drove the reported fall in complaints, and it is the part of the problem an ordinary victim never sees.

FAQ

Does an arrest in Operation Chakra-V mean the people are guilty?

No. An arrest and an FIR contain allegations, not findings of guilt. The persons arrested in these CBI operations are presumed innocent until proven guilty, and the investigations are continuing. No court has convicted anyone in these matters on the record reviewed.

What is a "digital arrest"?

It is a fraud, not a legal process. Callers impersonate officials and claim the victim is implicated in a crime, then keep them on a video call under a fictitious "arrest" and pressure them to transfer money. No Indian agency arrests people over video calls or asks for payment to prove innocence.

How much money is involved?

The figures vary by case and are the CBI's allegations. In one matter taken over from Jhunjhunu Cyber Police, the agency says a single victim was extorted of about Rs 7.67 crore across 42 transactions. A separate strand of the wider Operation Chakra work, run with the US FBI, concerned a ring reported at about Rs 70.5 crore. These are distinct cases, not one total.

What did the CBI actually do?

Per official accounts, the CBI conducted a sequence of searches and arrests through 2025 and into February 2026, including 42 locations across five states with nine arrests on 26 June 2025 targeting mule accounts, and 42 locations across eight states in May 2025 against a SIM-card racket. It seized bank records, cards, chequebooks and digital devices.

What should I do if I get such a call?

End the call and do not transfer any money. No genuine agency conducts an arrest over a video call. Verify independently using an official number, call the cyber-crime helpline 1930, and report at cybercrime.gov.in as soon as possible, because funds moved through mule accounts can sometimes be frozen if reported quickly.

Where can I read the official record?

The CBI's Operation Chakra-V actions have been reported through official channels including the Press Information Bureau and Prasar Bharati's news service, which set out the searches, states and arrest numbers for each action.

This report is based on official accounts of Operation Chakra-V, including the Prasar Bharati report of the 26 June 2025 CBI action and the report of the May 2025 SIM-racket searches, together with the Press Information Bureau release (PRID 2128077), reviewed on 2 August 2026.