Pune: A suspected serial fraudster was caught red-handed by CISF personnel on Thursday morning while extorting money from an arriving passenger outside the city airport.The individual was subsequently found to be operating under multiple identities. According to airport sources, the incident occurred around 5.45 am. A passenger arriving from Hyderabad on official duty aboard IndiGo flight 6E-351 was approached by a stranger immediately after exiting the arrival gate. The suspect spun a sympathetic story to request financial help of Rs20,000. Moving on humanitarian grounds, the passenger transferred Rs11,000 to a Google Pay account provided by the individual. On-duty CISF personnel observed the interaction and immediately intercepted the man for verification.During questioning, glaring discrepancies emerged in his documentation. The receiving UPI account was registered under the name Gujjaralapudi Bala Koteswara Rao, while his Aadhaar card and driving licence identified him as M. V. Dinesh Kumar, a resident of Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. Further, officials recovered a university faculty ID card from his possession bearing a third name: Alluru Shyam Prasad.“Unable to provide a satisfactory explanation for the conflicting identities and the third-party financial transfer, the suspect was detained. Upon learning of the deception, the victim agreed to file a formal complaint. Following a similar incident on Sept 1, where a departing passenger was cheated of Rs18,600 using an identical modus operandi, CISF mounted special vigilance in the airport’s city-side area. By matching the apprehended suspect’s activities with CCTV footage from the Sept 1 incident, investigators confirmed he was the same perpetrator. During further questioning, the suspect admitted his involvement in the previous fraud, for which a cyber crime complaint had already been lodged,” an airport source said. Following the preliminary inquiry and formal complaint, CISF handed the suspect over to Vimantal Police Station for a detailed investigation and further legal action.
