Recently, a man posing as the state’s chief secretary, called up the manager of a nationalised bank, and directed him to sponsor a ‘Para-Badminton Tournament’ in the city.

On January 14, one Ramamurthy visited the Bank of India on KG Road and met its zonal bank manager Eshwarappa seeking sponsorship of Rs 28,000 for ‘Victor Denmark Para-Badminton Tournament’. The man produced a fake letterhead with chief secretary T M Vijaya Bhaskar’s name, designation and signature on it, which read, ‘Secretary General, Badminton Sports Association of India For Challenged’. Convinced by all this, manager Eshwarappa gave Rs 28,000 in sponsorship.

Days later, Eshwarappa called up chief secretary Vijaya Bhaskar to inform him that he had indeed paid the amount towards the sponsorship, only to realise that he had been cheated. Taking into account the magnitude of the fraud chief secretary T M Vijaya Bhaskar then filed a complaint at the Upparpet police station.

Bhaskar stated in his complaint that around 9 am, manager Eshwarappa received a call from one man claiming to be the chief secretary. The impostor directed Eshwarappa to pay Rs 28,000.

Following Bhaskar’s complaint, Upparpet police registered an FIR against one Jayadevan alias Ramamurthy and his associate who called the manager posing as chief secretary and charged them with forgery and cheating. Police are trying to track them down.