Bengaluru, Sep 22 (IANS) Sudha Murthy, Rajya Sabha MP and author from Karnataka, has lodged a complaint with Bengaluru Police against a cyber crook who allegedly attempted to extract personal information from her by falsely claiming to be an official from the Department of Telecom under the central government. Sudha Murthy is the wife of former Chairman and Founder of Infosys.

The incident came to light on Monday, even as the Cyber Crime police had registered an FIR against an unknown individual on September 20. The case has been lodged under Sections 66(C), 66(D), and 84(C) of the Information Technology Act. The complaint was lodged by one Ganapathy on behalf of Murthy. The matter was also reported to the National Cyber Reporting Portal (NCRP) on September 5.

According to the FIR, on September 5 at about 9.40 A.M., Sudha Murthy received a call from a person who claimed to be an employee of the Central government’s telecom department. He alleged that her mobile number was registered without being linked to an Aadhaar number and attempted to obtain her personal details.

Furthermore, the caller claimed that vulgar messages were being circulated from her number and warned that the number would be blocked by noon. The FIR states that the accused behaved inappropriately, and the Truecaller identification of the number displayed it as “Telecom Department.” The complainant alleged that the individual, while falsely posing as a telecom department employee, attempted to mislead and extract information from Murthy and demanded legal action against him.

The police have taken up further investigation.

It can be recalled that an incident involving the wife of former minister and current BJP MP from Chikkaballapur, K. Sudhakar, falling prey to cyber fraud and losing Rs 14 lakh came to light on Monday. However, the Cyber Crime, Economic Offences and Narcotics (CEN) police acted swiftly, freezing the amount in the bank where it was deposited and ensuring its return, according to an official statement from the West Division CEN police station.

The statement released on Monday said the police team tracked the fraudulent transaction and refunded the cheated amount of Rs 14 lakh to the victim within a week.

Providing details of the case, police said that on August 26, the complainant, 44-year-old Preethi Sudhakar, a resident of Bengaluru, received a WhatsApp call from cyber fraudsters posing as officials of the Mumbai Cyber Crime unit. They claimed that illegal money had been transferred into her account.

DCP (West) S. Girish on Monday appealed to the public not to waste time in confusion if they lose money to cyber fraud. Instead, he urged them to immediately call the national cyber helpline (1930) within the golden hour and also file a complaint at the jurisdictional police station to enable swift action and prevent financial losses.

–IANS

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