Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Unidentified cyber crooks played clever on the father of a youth residing in Bihar, claiming that his son studying at a private engineering college in the city has been implicated in a false rape case. The accused posed as Bhopal police official and said they needed Rs 75,000 to set him free. When the man transferred the money to the accused, and later learnt that his son was safe, he lodged a police complaint. Further investigation is underway.
ACP (cyber cell) Sujeet Tiwari told Free Press that youth named Shantanu Sinha (19), a native of Patna, had been pursuing engineering from a private college in Bhopal. His father Rajesh Sinha stated in his complaint that on Monday, when he was at his house in Patna, he received a WhatsApp call from an unknown number. The caller identified himself as a senior police official posted in Bhopal.
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He told Sinha that his son, studying in Bhopal, was involved in a rape case, and they could save him from going to jail if Sinha assisted them, financially. The caller, posing as the cop, said he needed Rs 75,000 to botch up the case and let Shantanu go. Rajesh became anxious as Shantanuís details provided by the caller were accurate. A little later, he transferred Rs 75,000 to the caller online.
He then tried to call Shantanu whose phone was switched off. An hour after the incident, Shantanu called his father, and Rajesh learnt that he was safe. Shantanu told him that his cell phone was switched off, as he was attending class at the college. He denied any rape incident implicating him.
Rajesh then approached Patna cyber cell who transferred the case diary to Bhopal cyber cell. Further investigations are underway.
83 plaints in 3 months
Deputy police commissioner Akhil Patel told Free Press that 83 complaints of frauds on the pretext of implication of their sons in a rape case have been received at the city cyber cell. However, no arrests have been in any case till now.
Software consultant duped of Rs 1.56 lakh on pretext of licence renewal
A woman employed as a software consultant in the city was allegedly duped of Rs 1.56 lakh by a fraudster on the pretext of getting her a renewed driving licence, Habibganj police said on Tuesday. As per police, the incident had transpired on February 14 this year, after which she approached the city cyber wing. The cyber cell transferred the case to Habibganj police station on Tuesday for probe.
Habibganj police station house officer (SHO) Ajay Kumar Soni told Free Press that the victim woman is named Sunita Garg (58). She had approached the city cyber cell on February 15, stating she was employed as a software consultant in Bhopal. She told cops that she was trying to google-search the regional transport office (RTO) website on February 14, as she wanted to get her driving licence renewed.
She added that during the search, she stumbled across a phone number and called on it. A man picked up the phone, and told her to download an application on her cell phone. Garg complied with the manís instructions. The man then told her to deposit Rs 5,000 in payment gateway provided on the application. She did the same, only to learn within a few hours that Rs 1.56 lakh were from her bank account in multiple transactions.
She approached cyber cell the next day (February 15) and lodged a complaint. The cyber wing transferred the case to Habibganj police on Tuesday, and a probe is underway into the incident.
