A day after an elderly NRI doctor couple in Delhi was “digitally arrested” and duped of nearly ₹14 crore, the duo claimed that they were confined to their house for 16 days, subjected to mental torture, and coerced into transferring their entire life savings, fixed deposits, and mutual funds.
Meanwhile, police said they were yet to identify the suspects behind the digital fraud.
The couple, 81-year-old Om Taneja and 77-year-old Indira Taneja, both doctors, had returned to India from the US in 2015. They live in south Delhi’s Greater Kailash II and have been involved in social work, Indira said.
According to police, Indira was first contacted by the suspects on December 24, 2025, who introduced themselves as officials of the Telecom Regulatory Authority. They told Indira that multiple complaints had been filed against her phone number.
Recounting her ordeal, Indira told HT that the cyber fraudsters told her that the couple was involved in a money laundering case, which had become a matter of “national security”.
“They told me that 26 complaints had been received against my phone number, and it was being used for illegal activities and for sending obscene messages. I was shocked. They said my husband and I would be arrested. My husband recently had a surgery and his health is supervised by AIIMS doctors. I got very scared,” Indira said.
According to the couple’s complaint, the fraudsters pressured the woman, and threatened that officers from Mumbai’s Colaba police station would speak to her. Soon after, a man posing as officer “Vikrant Singh Rajput” contacted her via a video call.
“The man said I had bank accounts in Canara Bank in Mumbai. I told them it was not possible as I only had joint accounts with my husband and did not have an account in Mumbai. The fraudsters said our case was linked to the Naresh Goyal money laundering case,” Indira claimed.
The 78-year-old woman, who is a doctor, said the suspects pressured her by repeatedly calling the matter a “national security threat”, and warned that the couple’s life was in danger.
Over the next 16 days, Indira said, the fraudsters kept the duo under surveillance through video calls and messages.
“They made me write letters to the Supreme Court and other agencies, and told us not to talk to anyone. My friends, lawyers, relatives kept calling me from Christmas till New Year, but we were not allowed to talk.”
The woman said the suspects would monitor phone calls whenever the couple was allowed to speak with their children in the US. “The suspects monitored all our voice and text conversations, and kept threatening us not to talk to anyone,” Indira said.
Eight transactions were made by the couple to seven bank accounts (of the accused) , said police.
“Once my driver showed up with some X-ray reports, and it angered the suspects. They said we could not have anyone in the house or there could be serious consequences,” the woman added.
Police said an FIR had been lodged with the Special Cell and investigation was underway.