Why India's Digital Arrest Menace Forced SC to Step In: Top Court Presses RBI, Tasks CBI With All-India Hunt

The Supreme Court on Monday handed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) responsibility for a unified, nationwide investigation into digital arrest scams and questioned the Reserve Bank of India on why

it was not using artificial intelligence to identify and freeze bank accounts linked to cybercriminals.Digital arrest scams typically involve fraudsters posing as police, court officials or government agencies to intimidate victims over audio or video calls and coerce them into paying money. The court said senior citizens are among the most frequent targets."The gravity and enormity of crimes can very well be judged by the fact that senior citizens were mostly targeted by the fraudsters by adopting different devices to dupe them," a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said.The bench asked states, including West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana, to grant the CBI consent under the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act so it can investigate cases within their jurisdictions.The court also issued notice to the RBI, seeking an explanation on why AI or machine learning tools were not being used to flag mule accounts and freeze them quickly. Mule accounts are used by cybercriminals to receive and move illegal funds.The directions came in a suo motu case based on a complaint by an elderly Haryana couple.Coordination Measures OrderedThe court directed information technology intermediaries to cooperate with the CBI and provide necessary details in ongoing and future digital arrest investigations. It also allowed states, Union Territories and the CBI to freeze any bank account used in fraud.It instructed the Department of Telecom to propose steps to prevent telecom operators from issuing multiple SIM cards to a single user, noting such practices aided cybercrime. "The Department of Telecom to submit a proposal for the consideration of this court which can be enforced by the telecom service providers to deter multiple SIM cards in one name or entity," the bench said.States and UTs were told to set up regional and state-level cybercrime coordination centres to streamline information-sharing with the CBI.The bench asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to ensure that views from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Department of Telecom, Finance Ministry and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology are placed before the court.CBI to Probe Complicit Bank OfficialsThe bench also directed the CBI to investigate bank officials accused of helping operate mule accounts and register cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act.A mule account is a bank account also known by some other names used by cybercriminals to receive and transfer illicit funds, making it harder to trace the source of the money for the probe agencies.Amicus curiae N S Nappinai flagged three major cybercrimes, digital arrests, investment scams and part-time job scams. The court said digital arrest cases require "immediate attention", with the other two categories to be addressed in later phases.The CBI was permitted to induct state officers and technical experts into its probe team.On November 3, the top court said it needs to deal with digital arrest cases with an iron hand, while expressing shock over the scale of such cybercrime cases in the country, with over Rs 3,000 crore allegedly extorted from victims, including senior citizens.It went through two sealed cover reports submitted by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the CBI.On October 27, the top court said it is inclined to entrust the CBI with the probe into digital arrest cases after taking into consideration the magnitude and pan-India spread of such crimes.