Bengaluru:

The prime accused in the cyber fraud case involving an elderly couple in Karnataka's Belagavi, which led them to die by suicide, has been arrested less than a month after he swindled Rs 50 lakh from them.

The accused Chirag Jeevarajbhai Lakkad was arrested from Gujarat's Surat after investigation by the Cyber, Economic and Narcotics Crime Police. He, along with other cyber criminals, had defrauded the elderly couple of nearly Rs 50 lakh.

Police said the accused impersonated a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officer and extorted money via video calls while operating from Surat. Authorities discovered that Rs 6 lakh had been transferred to his account, with more funds routed to various other accounts.

On March 27, Diogjeron Santan Nazareth (82) and his wife Flaviana (79), residents of Belagavi's Khanapur, were found dead in their house. A two-page handwritten death note left behind by Diogjeron stated their decision to end their lives and requested that no one be blamed, as they did not want to live at the mercy of anyone, police said.