Scamsters posing as Mumbai cops attempt to con Karnataka High Court judges

Fake ‘cops’ demand money from judges to drop ‘cases’ against them.

Bengaluru: Unknown people posing as Mumbai police officers attempted to con two sitting judges of the Karnataka High Court, police said Monday.

Justices Pradeep Singh Yerur and S G Pandit received the fraudulent phone calls on March 15.

According to Bengaluru police, Justice Singh received the call between 9 am and 9.30 am, while Justice Pandit received the call between 4 pm and 4.30 pm.

As per the First Information Reports (FIR) seen by DH, unknown persons told the two judges that they were from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) and SIM cards in the justices' names were being used to post "illegal advertisements and send objectionable messages".

In the case of Justice Singh, the scamsters allegedly told him that a case regarding the same was registered against him at the Andheri East police station in Mumbai under crime number MH1645/0324. Similarly, the scamsters told Justice Pandit that a case was registered in Mumbai, while no mention was made of the case number, the FIR noted.

Next, the calls were transferred to a person claiming to be from the Mumbai police.

Justice Singh alleged that the “police officer” spoke rudely and told him the case would be solved if he sent them money. In Justice Pandit’s case, the impersonator also spoke rudely, police said, quoting the complainant.

The calls were subsequently dropped, the FIRs noted.

“Both calls appear fraudulent,” a police investigator told DH. “No monetary loss was suffered. Investigations, however, are underway.”

Vidhana Soudha police registered two separate cases on March 16 under IPC sections 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 507 (criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication), 120B (punishment of criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property).