LUCKNOW, March 7 -- Cyber crime police in Lucknow have arrested three more members of a gang accused of duping a couple of Rs.90 lakh by posing as Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) officers and threatening them with a 'digital arrest' in a cyber fraud case. Police said the accused frightened the victim's family by alleging links with terrorism and money laundering, forcing them to transfer large amount of money to multiple bank accounts for so called 'verification'. According to the police, the fraud began on January 26, 2026 when Veena Bajpai received a call from a man who introduced himself as ATS inspector Ranjeet Kumar posted at the ATS headquarters. The caller accused her of involvement in serious offences and threatened immediate legal action and arrest. The victim was then asked to download the Signal messaging app, where another person identifying himself as Ajay Pratap Srivastava, claiming to be an ATS officer, contacted the family. He allegedly showed fake investigation documents, forged Supreme Court orders and seizure papers to make the claim appear genuine. Under fear and psychological pressure, the victim and her husband transferred around Rs.90 lakh via RTGS to different bank accounts between January 29 and February 9. The accused later demanded an additional Rs.11 lakh and allegedly threatened the family when they expressed inability to pay. A case was registered at Cyber Crime Police Station, Lucknow under sections 318(4) cheating and dishonestly, and 319(2) cheating by impersonation, of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and section 66D of the Information Technology Act. Police said that during investigation a cyber crime team led by inspector Brijesh Kumar Yadav arrested three more accused, Dheeraj, Sparsh Kapoor, and Ashish Chandra, who were involved in handling the fraud money. During interrogation Dheeraj admitted that he had helped open a bank account in the name of Rahul Pal at Kotak Mahindra Bank's Rajajipuram branch on the instructions of Sparsh Kapoor and received Rs.8,000 for the task. Police said Sparsh Kapoor withdrew money from the account using cheques and handed it over to Ashish Chandra, receiving Rs.10,000 as commission. Ashish played a key role in converting the fraud money into USDT cryptocurrency. Data related to cryptocurrency transactions and cyber fraud activities was found in his mobile phone, police added. How the gang operated? Police said the gang used a network of bank accounts opened in the names of unsuspecting people. Money obtained through cyber fraud was deposited in these accounts, withdrawn through cheques, and then converted into cryptocurrency to make tracking difficult. The account holders and intermediaries were paid a commission for allowing the use of their bank accounts and helping withdraw cash. Five accused had already been arrested earlier in the case and sent to jail. They were identified as Mayank Srivastava (Gorakhpur), Irshad (Ghaziabad), Manish Kumar (Delhi), Manoj Yadav (Sikar, Rajasthan) and Jitendra Yadav alias Jeetu (Sikar, Rajasthan)....