Wayanad (Kerala), Jul 16 (PTI) A fraudster allegedly impersonating as the private secretary of Wayanad Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has attempted to dupe Kerala MPs and an MLA by demanding money from them, police officials said on Thursday.
A case was registered based on a complaint lodged by D S Rajkumar, private secretary to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, with the State Police Chief and the Wayanad Superintendent of Police.
According to the complaint, the accused impersonated Rajkumar, who is based in New Delhi and contacted Elathur MLA K Vidya Balakrishnan and MPs Shafi Parambil and Dean Kuriakose, who are Congress leaders.
Rajkumar alleged that the accused misused his identity and the name of the MPs’ office in an attempt to cheat the public representatives by demanding money from them.
Wayanad Cyber Police registered a case on Wednesday under relevant provisions for impersonation and cheating and have launched an investigation into the incident.
Earlier, Kozhikode Cyber Police had also registered a case based on a complaint filed by the Congress MLA Vidya Balakrishnan.
According to police, Balakrishnan received a WhatsApp call at around 2 pm on July 6 from a person who introduced himself as Rajkumar from the office of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in New Delhi.
The caller allegedly claimed that a cabinet reshuffle was likely to take place in Kerala and that she could be made a minister if she paid Rs three crore.
Police said the conversation, which was in English, lasted around 10 minutes. The MLA became suspicious of the caller’s claims during the conversation.
The caller also claimed that Balakrishnan had been referred by another MP from Kozhikode.
After the call, the MLA contacted the MP, who told her that a person claiming to be from the AICC office had sought the contact numbers of her and another MLA, police said.
Balakrishnan later contacted Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s office and confirmed that the call was part of the impersonation attempt.
Police have registered a case under the relevant sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act.
According to investigators, the call originated from New Delhi, and a suspect has been identified based on the phone number used.
However, police said it remains to be verified whether the SIM card was obtained using forged identity documents.
A police team will travel to New Delhi as part of the investigation, officials added.
(Disclaimer: This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
