BENGALURU: A 48-year-old BESCOM contract employee died by suicide after being repeatedly threatened and extorted of nearly Rs 11 lakh over a fortnight by a person claiming to be a CBI officer. Similar to the ‘digital arrest’ modus operandi of cyber crooks, the accused extorted the victim by threatening that there was an arrest warrant against him.
The victim, K Kumara, was found hanging from a coconut tree at his native Kelegere village of Channapatna taluk on Tuesday. He was staying at HSR Layout in the city with his wife and an eight-year-old son.
A suicide note, purportedly written by him mentioned the name and mobile phone number of the accused. However, there was no mention of what charges the fake officer levelled against him.
A police officer said the victim received a phone call from a person identifying himself as Vikam Goswamy from the CBI. The accused told Kumara that he had to pay money if he wants to prevent his arrest. “Kumara initially paid Rs 1.95 lakh.
Kumara kept transferring more money, amounting to Rs 11 lakh in total, to the bank accounts of the accused. When the accused demanded that he transfer Rs 2.75 lakh more, Kumara, not knowing what to do, left for his village on Monday, telling his wife that he was going there for some work. He had never discussed the threats with anyone,” said an officer.
In the death note, Kumara stated that he was ending his life because of the harassment and also due to ill health. The victim’s wife told the police that her husband was heard speaking to someone in Hindi and was had been nervous since the last fortnight.
The MK Doddi police have registered a case under Section 108 of the BNS.