Digital arrest: Supreme Court asks Centre, CBI to spell out how to deal with it

Expressing serious concern over online fraud and digital arrests to dupe people by fabricating judicial orders, the Supreme Court on Friday asked the Centre and the CBI to spell out their respective stand on dealing with the menace.

A Bench led by Justice Surya Kant, which took suo motu cognisance of a shocking case of digital arrest of an elderly couple in Ambala, Haryana, on the basis of forged orders of the top court and probe agencies by fraudsters to extort more than Rs 1.05 crore, also asked the Haryana Government and Superintendent of Police, Cyber Crime, Ambala, to file their responses.

“The forgery of documents and the brazen criminal misuse of the name, seal, and judicial authority of this court or a High Court is a matter of grave concern. The fabrication of judicial orders bearing forged signatures of Judges strikes at the very foundation of public trust in the judicial system, besides the rule of law,” the Bench said.

“Such acts constitute a direct assault on the dignity and majesty of this institution, therefore, such grave criminal acts cannot be treated as ordinary or routine offences of cheating or cybercrime,” said the Bench, which also included Justice Joymalya Bagchi.

“Ordinarily, we would have directed the state police to expedite the investigation and take it to a logical conclusion. We are, however, aghast at the fact that the fraudsters have fabricated judicial orders in the name of the Supreme Court of India and various other documents,” it added.

Noting that the instant case was not a solitary instance and that such incidents had been reported many times in responsible media reports in the past in different parts of the country, the Bench said, “We are, therefore, of the prima facie view that a stern action on a pan-India basis with coordinated efforts between the Central and State Police are required to unearth the full extent of this criminal enterprise involving forgery of judicial documents, cyber extortion and cyber arrest of the innocent people, especially the senior citizens.”

Having regard to the manner in which similar crimes were being committed, the top court requested Attorney General R Venkataramani to assist it in the matter.

As two FIRs have been lodged with the Cyber Crime Department at Ambala under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhitya (BNS), the Bench directed the Ambala Superintendent of Police (Cyber Crime) to file a status report on the investigation done so far and posted the matter for further hearing on October 27.

The top court registered a suo motu petition after a 73-year-old woman wrote to CJI BR Gavai on September 21 informing she and her husband were defrauded by using false and forged judicial orders.

She alleged that scamsters produced a forged court order with stamp and seal for arrest and surveillance of the couple between September 3 and 16, 2025, to force them to part with over Rs 1.05 crore through multiple bank transactions.

The Ambala woman said the court orders, ED freeze order and arrest order under PMLA and a surveillance order were shown to her and her husband through multiple audio and video calls by people impersonating as CBI, ED and judicial officers to arrest them.