Supreme Court Empowers CBI to Lead Nationwide Crackdown on Digital Fraud
Supreme Court launches historic nationwide crackdown on digital arrest fraudsters targeting seniors.
In an unprecedented judicial strike against the menacing “digital arrest” epidemic, the Supreme Court on Monday handed the Central Bureau of Investigation sweeping authority to lead a single, unified investigation across every state and union territory, explicitly ordering all state governments to grant immediate consent for CBI entry and directing the creation of a seamless national dragnet that leaves cyber criminals with nowhere to hide.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi issued a stinging notice to the Reserve Bank of India, demanding a detailed explanation within weeks on why advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning systems have not yet been deployed to automatically detect and freeze mule accounts the instant illicit transactions are flagged, while simultaneously mandating every state and union territory to establish fully functional regional cyber crime coordination centres that will feed real-time intelligence directly to the investigating agency.
Outraged by the ruthless targeting of senior citizens who are terrorised for hours through video calls by imposters posing as police officers, TRAI officials, or even judges, the court ordered all telecom giants to stop issuing multiple SIM cards to single users, compelled social media and IT intermediaries to surrender user data without delay, and authorised the CBI to formally invoke Interpol Red Corner notices against kingpins operating from tax-haven countries.
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The bench went a step further by empowering both the CBI and state police to instantly freeze any bank account linked to fraud without waiting for court orders, while launching a parallel investigation into corrupt bank employees who knowingly allow mule accounts to flourish, warning that officials found colluding with criminals will face criminal prosecution and departmental annihilation.
With sealed-cover reports revealing that fraudsters have already extorted more than ₹3,000 crore by digitally imprisoning helpless elderly victims, the Supreme Court’s iron-fisted directions have ignited the biggest coordinated assault ever mounted against cyber extortion gangs, signalling that the era of faceless scammers looting India with impunity is finally over.
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