NEW DELHI: Former Rajya Sabha MP Naresh Gujral (78) was allegedly duped of Rs 7.8 crore by cyber fraudsters posing as him on a messaging app and tricking his company’s chief financial officer into transferring funds to multiple bank accounts, police said on Thursday. Notably, Naresh is the son of the late I K Gujral, who served as India’s 12th prime minister from 1997 to 1998.
According to investigators, the fraud took place between June 12 and June 16. The accused allegedly created an account using Gujral’s display picture and posed as him on an online messaging application. Through the fake account, they contacted one of Gujral’s employees and issued instructions for urgent business-related fund transfers.
Believing the messages to be genuine, the employee—who had been granted financial authority by Gujral—carried out four separate real-time gross settlement (RTGS) transactions over four days. The transfers collectively amounted to Rs 7.8 crore and were sent to bank accounts specified by the fraudsters.
The scam came to light on June 16, when the transactions were noticed by Gujral’s daughter. She immediately verified the matter with her father, who denied issuing any such instructions and said he had no knowledge of the transfers. It was then that the family and company officials realised they had been targeted in an impersonation-driven cyber scam.
The Delhi Police registered an e-FIR on Tuesday. Officials said swift action by law enforcement agencies helped freeze nearly Rs 4 crore, which is around 70%of the defrauded amount.