Puducherry Police takes UP school teacher into custody on cyber fraud charge
India Today
Manoj Sharma, a school teacher from UP’s Firozabad, was taken into custody by the Puducherry Police after his WhatsApp number was used to demand gifts from ministers in the name of the Lieutenant-Governor of the Union Territory.
Puducherry Police took a school teacher from Uttar Pradesh's Firozabad into their custody on Monday, August 8. His WhatsApp account was allegedly used to demand gifts in the name of the Puducherry Lieutenant-Governor (L-G), officials said.
However, the accused claims that he does not use WhatsApp. Hence, there was no question of him sending messages, said the local police.
Special Superintendent of Police (SSP), Ashish Tiwari, said a police team from Puducherry arrived in Firozabad on Saturday. They had discovered that the mobile number used in the cyber fraud was that of a teacher in Uttar Pradesh.
The Puducherry Police informed the local police that WhatsApp messages were sent to many ministers asking them to buy gifts using Amazon cards and send those to the L-G. The WhatsApp account was created in the name of the L-G and had his photo as the display picture, officials said.
Investigations revealed that the mobile number associated with the WhatsApp account was in the name of Manoj Sharma, a school teacher in the Ramgarh police station area of Firozabad.
The teacher was called to the Ramgarh police station and questioned for several hours after Inspector Santosh Kumar, Puducherry Police, contacted local authorities and informed them.
Based on the interrogation by Puducherry Police officials on Sunday, it was found that an OTP was received on Sharma's mobile number, after which the WhatsApp group was activated, said Circle Officer (City) Abhishek Srivastava.
