India, Aug. 27 -- A retired bank officer was told that a SIM card issued in his name had been used in the 2025 Pahalgam terror attack and that Rs.7 crore had been routed through a bank account opened in his name to fund terrorists. Terrified that he could be arrested, the 64-year-old handed over details of his savings, investments, shares and mutual funds to men posing as Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) officers - and eventually transferred Rs.3.83 crore to accounts specified by them.

The Juhu resident, a former operations manager with HDFC Bank, remained on WhatsApp video calls with the accused for 10 days, following their instructions as they kept him under what they called a "digital arrest". He realised he had been duped only after a bank...