Uttarakhand: Former ISRO scientist duped of Rs 10 lakh

Cyber thugs had cheated the former ISRO officer by threatening to implicate him in a false case by posing as cops. The matter came to light after the victim's daughter contacted the Delhi and Jaipur Police respectively and found that there were no police officers with the names that were told Souri Sen Gupta.

Dehradun (Uttarakhand): A former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientist was duped of Rs 10 lakh under the Police Station Cantonment area here, police said on Wednesday.

A senior police official said that cyber thugs had cheated the former ISRO officer by threatening to implicate him in a false case by posing as cops. "The victim has now given a complaint to the Cantonment police station. Following this a case against unknown accused was registered under section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant sections of the Information Technology (IT) Act were registered," the officer added.

Police said that they have launched a hunt to nab the accused. They added that the victim Sauri Sen Gupta, a resident of Panditwadi has filed a complaint that he is retired from the post of registrar from government and private universities. He has also worked in the ISRO. "Gupta had gone to Kolkata on March 13, 2023. During this, he received a call from a person, who identified himself as Vikram Singh, station in-charge of Sanganer police station, Jaipur. The caller told Sauri Sen that a complaint had been received against him for abetment to suicide and a case was being registered. After this, the caller cut the call," the police officer added.

The police officer added the very next day Souri Sen got a call from another person from another number. "The caller introduced his name as Gaurav Malhotra, an officer of Delhi Police. The caller said that a complaint was received against him for abetment to suicide. The caller demanded Rs 10 lakh from Sauri Sen to save him from both cases. A panicked Souri Sen broke his Fixed Deposit (FD) and transferred the amount of Rs six lakhs and four lakhs on different days from his bank account to two accounts. Sen then informed it to his family members," added the police.

Police said that Sen's daughter then contacted the Delhi Police and the Jaipur Police and investigated the matter, after which it came to light there were no police officers of the two names which were told to Sen. "After this, the family came to know about Sen was duped," Police Station Cantonment in-charge Sampurnanand Gairola said.