Bengaluru, Sep 22 : An incident involving the wife of former minister and current BJP MP from Chikkaballapur, K. Sudhakar, falling prey to cyber fraud and losing Rs 14 lakh came to light on Monday.

However, the Cyber Crime, Economic Offences and Narcotics (CEN) police acted swiftly, freezing the amount in the bank where it was deposited and ensuring its return, according to an official statement from the West Division CEN police station.

The statement released on Monday said the police team tracked the fraudulent transaction and refunded the amount of Rs 14 lakh to the victim within a week.

Providing details of the case, police said that on August 26, the complainant, 44-year-old Preethi Sudhakar, a resident of Basaveshwaranagar in Bengaluru, received a WhatsApp call from cyber fraudsters posing as officials of the Mumbai Cyber Crime unit. They claimed that illegal money had been transferred into her account.

The fraudsters told her to transfer Rs 14 lakh to facilitate verification by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), assuring her that the money would be redeposited into her account within 15 minutes. They also threatened her with immediate arrest if she failed to comply.

Believing them, Preethi transferred Rs 14 lakh from her HDFC Bank account to an account in Yes Bank. However, she realised the fraud and lodged a complaint the same evening at the CEN police station. The case was registered under Section 66(D) of the IT Act and Sections 318(4) and 319(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and an investigation was launched.

Acting promptly within the golden hour, the national cyber fraud helpline (1930) was contacted, and the transaction was frozen. Consent was later obtained from the 47th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) on September 3, and the money was redeposited into the victim's HDFC account from the Yes Bank account.

Police have launched a manhunt for the accused. The investigation is being led by DCP West S. Girish and ACP Umarani.

DCP Girish, on Monday, appealed to the public not to waste time in confusion if they lose money to cyber fraud. Instead, he urged them to immediately call the national cyber helpline (1930) within the golden hour and also file a complaint at the jurisdictional police station to enable swift action and prevent financial losses.

/IANS