Lucknow: Cybercriminals posing as anti-terrorist squad (ATS) officers kept an 89-year-old retired civil defence official confined to his room for nearly 22 days and duped him of ₹16 lakh.The victim, Vijay Prakash Gupta of Vijay Khand in Gomti Nagar, was threatened with being implicated in a case linked to the Pulwama terror incident. The fraudsters allegedly told him that his identity had surfaced in an investigation involving an “overground worker” and promised to issue him a certificate declaring him innocent if he cooperated with their “investigation”.The ordeal began on Sept 3 morning when Gupta received an audio call on WhatsApp. The caller introduced himself as an ATS officer posted at the ATS office in Gomti Nagar Extension and asked Gupta to appear before him.When Gupta suggested meeting at the Gomti Nagar police station, the caller refused. He was subsequently made to speak to three other men, who also claimed to be ATS officers.The fraudsters later sent Gupta a photograph of a debit card bearing his name and claimed that it belonged to an ICICI Bank account. They told him the card had been recovered from a person suspected to be an “overground worker” in the Pulwama case and claimed that illegal transactions worth ₹2.65 crore had been carried out through it.The accused then switched to video calls and conducted what they described as an interrogation. They used WhatsApp profiles carrying the ATS logo.Gupta was allegedly ordered to remain inside his room throughout the “investigation” and warned against informing anyone, with the accused threatening harm to his family. They also claimed that National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Economic Offences Wing (EOW) were also involved in the probe.On Sept 15, the fraudsters allegedly asked Gupta to send photographs of the passbooks of all his bank accounts. They subsequently directed him to transfer ₹6.85 lakh on the pretext of verification.Two days later, they allegedly made him break an FD and transfer another ₹6.74 lakh to an account specified by them. On Sept 25, Gupta was allegedly forced to transfer a further ₹2.50 lakh.After the third transfer, the accused disconnected the call. When Gupta did not receive the promised certificate, he realised that he had been cheated. Even after coming out, Gupta initially did not tell his family. He eventually approached the police on Oct 4.Cyber crime police station inspector Alok Rao said investigators were tracing the mobile numbers used by the accused.
