Key accused in Ludhiana industrialist SP Oswal's digital arrest case nabbed

Soon after the searches, Rumi Kalita was arrested under provisions of the PMLA on December 23 and her transit remand was allowed by the Chief Judicial Magistrate's court, Kamrup, Guwahati, for four days.

Subsequently, she was produced before the special PMLA court in Jalandhar, which granted the ED custody of 10 days up to January 2 of the accused.

Searches were also conducted on January 31, 2025, in the case, which resulted in the seizure of incriminating documents.

The ED had initiated investigation in the matter on the basis of the FIR registered by the cyber crime police station, Ludhiana, under various provisions of the BNSS, 2023. Subsequently, nine more FIRs registered by various police authorities regarding cybercrime/digital arrest related to the same group of criminals, were also taken up in the investigation.

Investigations revealed that during the digital arrest of Oswal, the fraudsters, impersonating as officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and using forged official and judicial documents, forced him to transfer Rs 7 crore in various accounts, out of which Rs 5.24 crore were recovered from the accounts and were transferred back.

The remaining funds were transferred to various mule accounts, maintained in the name of various entities and persons being labourers/delivery boys, which were either further diverted or withdrawn in cash immediately. It was also found during the investigation that the amounts cheated from victims were immediately diverted by group of persons in various mule accounts, and credentials of those accounts were being reportedly used by Rumi Kalita for certain percentage of the cheated money to be given to her as her share.

Various incriminating evidences gathered during the search showed that she was deeply involved in the diversion and layering of the proceeds of crime, the ED sources said.