Duo posed as CBI officials, real investigators turn out to be smarter

Two men allegedly posed as investigators spoofed CBI headquarters landline to make calls to extort money from a bank fraud case accused, but they did not know that the real investigators were smarter than them.

The duo -- Y Manivardhan Reddy from Hyderabad and Selvam Ramaraj resident from Madurai -- landed in the CBI soon after the investigators got a tip-off about the case.

It all started with Reddy and Ramaraj allegedly contacting an accused in a bank fraud case posing as CBI officials and demanding money on behalf of senior CBI officials posted in New Delhi.

To make the prospective victim believe their story, the CBI claimed, the duo "used malicious software to spoof the landline telephone number 011-24302700", installed at the CBI headquarters in Delhi.

They "made multiple calls to accused on his mobile number posing themselves as senior CBI officers from New Delhi and demanded bribe for getting favors in the bank fraud case," it said.

On January 4, Reddy even traveled to Guntur to meet the accused and demanded a bribe in the name of senior CBI officials. He allegedly threatened the accused with dire consequences if the demanded bribe amount is not handed over within two days.

Searches were conducted in five locations -- two in Chennai and one each at Hyderabad, Madurai, and Sivakasi, and investigators recovered several mobile phones, Whatsapp communications, and documents

Reddy and Rajaram have been charged under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including criminal conspiracy and cheating, Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 as well as Section 66D of Information Technology Act.

In an earlier case, one accused had spoofed the email id of the CBI to cheat people.