Nagpur: Cyber Police have registered a case against an unidentified fraudster for allegedly impersonating district collector Kumar Ashirwad and municipal commissioner Vipin Itankar to extort money from govt officials through WhatsApp and social media.The fraud came to light after several officials received messages from mobile numbers displaying the photographs of the two senior officers. The sender allegedly sought money on the pretext of purchasing furniture and attempted to deceive recipients into transferring funds.The matter surfaced after the principal of a govt college received a suspicious message seeking money. Following complaints from officials, Naib Tahsildar Praful Sakharkar (45) approached the police, leading to the registration of an FIR on July 31.According to the FIR, the accused used mobile numbers carrying the display pictures (DPs) of Ashirwad and Itankar to lend credibility to the messages and mislead govt officials.Based on Sakharkar’s complaint, Cyber Police registered a case under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) as well as Sections 66(C) and 66(D) of the Information Technology Act, pertaining to identity theft and cheating by personation using computer resources.A senior police officer said efforts are under way to trace the accused.
