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The couple had spent over four decades in the United States
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Dr Indra served as a professor and doctor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry, while Dr Om worked with the United Nations and the US federal government
Delhi Police have arrested three people in connection with a high-value cyber fraud in which an elderly NRI doctor couple was cheated of nearly ₹15 crore through a so-called “digital arrest” scam at their home in south Delhi’s Greater Kailash-II.
The accused have been identified as Divyang Patel and Krutik Shitoli, both residents of Vadodara in Gujarat, and K.S. Tiwari from Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh. Investigators said two of the accused provided bank accounts used to receive the stolen money, while the third acted as a facilitator by arranging such accounts for the fraudsters. Police are also examining possible links to scam networks based in China and Cambodia.
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According to officials, Patel, who runs an NGO in Vadodara, opened a mule account in the organisation’s name
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Around ₹4 crore of the defrauded money was transferred into this account
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Police said he knowingly allowed the account to be used in exchange for a commission
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Shitoli allegedly helped collect and arrange multiple bank accounts to move the money. Tiwari, arrested from Prayagraj, provided another mule account that received about ₹2 crore
The victims, Dr Indra Taneja (77) and her husband Dr Om Taneja (81), were kept under “digital arrest” from December 24, 2025, to January 9, 2026. Scammers posing as police officers accused the couple of circulating obscene videos and being involved in money laundering, and threatened legal action to force repeated transfers.
Police said the total amount siphoned was ₹14.85 crore. The largest single transfer—₹4 crore—went to a Vadodara account. Other transfers were routed to accounts in Assam, Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Uttarakhand, often under the names of charitable trusts, trading firms, recruitment agencies and travel businesses. Authorities managed to freeze ₹2.10 crore during the investigation.
