Former PM IK Gujral’s Son Naresh Gujral Defrauded of ₹ 7.68 Crore

Scammers hacked former Prime Minister IK Gujral’s son Naresh Gujral’s WhatsApp account, defrauding him of ₹ 7.68 crores between June 12 and June 16 last week. They reportedly tricked Subham Singh, the Chief Finance Officer (CFO), of Gujral’s company into transferring the massive amount by impersonating Naresh Gujral.

The money was sent through at least four real-time gross settlement (RTGS) transactions and was routed into three-four accounts, police said. Officials say that nearly 70% of the total sum has been frozen by them.

THE SCAM

Formerly a Rajya Sabha member from 2007 to 2022, Gujral currently runs a textiles and apparel manufacturing company in south Delhi’s Okhla.

Gujral in his complaint said that Singh allegedly received a WhatsApp message from a contact with Gujral’s profile picture on June 12, police told Hindustan Times. Singh was reportedly asked to deposit an amount of ₹7.68 crore in a bank account through real-time gross settlement (RTGS) transactions by Gujral’s impersonator. Singh, believing the message to be genuine, transferred the money via four RTGS transactions.

While the CFO thought the money transfers to be a part of routine transactions for the business, the bank flagged the transaction given the huge sum involved. Singh, later feeling that something was off, told Gujral’s daughter about the incident on June 16.

Upon checking with her father who denied giving any such instructions, the daughter and the family realised that they had been conned, thus bringing the scam to light.

POLICE ACTION

Gujral then filed a police complaint. An FIR was registered on June 16 and the case was given to Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO), which is the Delhi Police’s special cybercrime investigation unit, police said. 

The IFSO claims to have frozen ₹4.28 crore of the total amount so far, “On the complaint of Naresh Gujral, an FIR was registered on June 16. Immediate action was taken and an amount of ₹4.28 crore out of the total defrauded amount of ₹7.68 crore has been marked as lien/hold in various banks. Efforts are being made to apprehend the persons involved in the fraud,” commissioner of police (IFSO) Vinit Kumar told HT.