The Delhi Police have launched a comprehensive investigation into a high-value cyber fraud case where former Member of Parliament Naresh Kumar Gujral was allegedly duped of Rs 7.80 crore. An First Information Report (FIR) was formally registered on Tuesday following the incident, which targeted the family of the former Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral. The Delhi Police Cyber Cell is currently tracing the money trail and working to identify the individuals behind the impersonation-based financial fraud, with further investigation currently underway.
Execution Through WhatsApp Impersonation
According to investigators, the sophisticated scam was executed by directly impersonating Naresh Kumar Gujral. The accused individual allegedly obtained Gujral’s photograph and used it to contact one of his staff members via the WhatsApp messaging application. Posing as the former lawmaker, the fraudster engaged the employee in a conversation, claiming that he was currently stuck in a meeting. Under this pretext, the impersonator instructed the staff member to immediately transfer substantial funds through Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) to a specified bank account.
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Family Alert and Helpline Intervention
The financial irregularities came to light when the employee, growing suspicious of the transaction, informed Gujral’s daughter about the transfer. Concerned by the unusual activity, she immediately contacted her father to verify the validity of the payment instructions. Gujral clarified that he had not issued any such order, making the family realize they had fallen victim to a targeted cyber crime scheme.
His daughter, Diksha Gujral, promptly contacted India’s dedicated cyber fraud helpline at 1930 and registered an e-FIR. Acting swiftly on the electronic complaint, cybercrime officials initiated emergency procedures, which enabled authorities to successfully freeze nearly 70 percent of the defrauded amount, accounting for nearly Rs 4 crore in recovered assets.
Profile of the Former Lawmaker
Naresh Gujral is a Chartered Accountant by profession and a senior leader of the Shiromani Akali Dal political party. He has a long history in Indian public affairs, having served as a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha representing Punjab from 2007 to 2022. Prior to his parliamentary tenure, he contested the 2004 Lok Sabha elections from the Jallandhar constituency as a Shiromani Akali Dal candidate, where he was defeated by Rana Gurjeet Singh.
As the son of former Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral, who led the nation from 1997 to 1998, he has remained actively involved in national policy matters and political discourse, particularly concerning the state of Punjab. Legal and technical teams continue to probe the network logs to locate the perpetrators.
