The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested five more people in its ongoing probe into digital arrest frauds under Operation Chakra-VI, taking the total number of arrests across three cases to eight.

The latest arrests come after the agency conducted coordinated searches at 89 locations across 20 states in connection with three major digital arrest cases linked to BITS Pilani, Gujarat and Karnataka.

The cases involve victims who were allegedly kept under “digital arrest” for prolonged periods and forced to transfer large sums of money to accounts controlled or arranged by the accused.

In the BITS Pilani-linked case, the victim was allegedly kept under digital arrest for around three months and defrauded of Rs 7.67 crore by individuals posing as police officers. In a separate case registered in Gujarat, another victim was allegedly held under digital arrest for three months and lost Rs 19.24 crore.

The third case, registered in Karnataka, involves a victim who was allegedly subjected to digital arrest for nearly a month and defrauded of Rs 15.45 crore.

The CBI had earlier arrested three people following its searches. They were identified as Akash from Haryana, Raja Karmakar from Kolkata and Jyoti Rani.

According to the agency, Akash allegedly received Rs 1.95 crore of the fraud proceeds in a bank account and transferred the money onward on the same day. Raja Karmakar was allegedly involved in routing Rs 1.5 crore through his firm's account, while Jyoti Rani allegedly withdrew part of the money in cash and transferred the remaining funds to other accounts.

The CBI has now arrested Sanket Bastwar and Pankaj Damade, both from Itarsi, along with Arif alias King Bhai, Harish Purushottam Yadav alias Harry from New Delhi and Shashank Singh alias Ravi from Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.

The agency alleges that Bastwar and Damade arranged a bank account, received fraud proceeds and helped move the money through different channels. Arif, Harish and Shashank were allegedly involved in arranging another bank account used to receive money from a digital arrest victim and subsequently routing the funds through multiple accounts.

Investigators have also alleged that the three installed a malicious APK file on the account holder's mobile phone. The application was allegedly used to intercept bank SMS alerts and facilitate control over the account.

With these arrests, the number of accused apprehended in the three cases has risen to eight. The CBI said its investigation is continuing to identify and apprehend other members of the alleged network, while further investigation into the cases remains underway.