Digital arrest: SC asks states/UTs to give details of cases lodges by them; hearing on Nov 3

The Supreme Court on Monday asked all states and union territories to furnish details of digital arrest cases registered by them to probe such scams carried out through forged court orders and impersonation of police and judicial officers.

Taking note of the magnitude and pan-India spread of such crimes, a Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi hinted at a CBI probe and posted the matter for further hearing on next Monday.

“There are more than one instance that have taken place in different parts. We are inclined to entrust the matter to the CBI in respect of all the states because this is a kind of crime which may be operating pan-India, or even across the border,” the Bench said.

As Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the CBI was already investigating some digital arrest cases, the Bench asked him to find out if the probe agency had the resources needed to handle all such cases. "If they need experts in cybercrime they may tell us," it told Mehta who said the CBI was taking assistance from the Cybercrime Division of the MHA.

Expressing serious concern over online fraud and digital arrests to dupe people by fabricating judicial orders, the Supreme Court had on October 17 asked the Centre and the CBI to spell out their respective stand on dealing with the menace.

The Bench, 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, had requested Attorney General R Venkataramani to assist it in the matter.

On Monday, Venkataramani told the Bench that “there are money laundering gangs located outside our territory, in many parts of Asia, including Myanmar and Thailand.”

The top court had 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.

Informing the Bench that more FIRs had been registered over similar crimes, the Haryana Government counsel sought time to file details about the same.

In its October 17 order, the top court had noted that “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.”

“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,” it had said.

“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 had said.

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 had 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.”