New Delhi: Naresh Gujral, 78, the former Rajya Sabha member and son of ex-Prime Minister IK Gujral, became a victim of a cyber fraud as unidentified scammers impersonated him on an online messaging app and tricked his company’s chief finance officer (CFO) into transferring ₹7.68 crore through at least four real-time gross settlement (RTGS) transactions last week, police said on Thursday.Of the total defrauded amount of ₹7.68 crore has been marked as lien/hold in various banks. Efforts are being made to apprehend the persons involved in the fraud, say police (Representative photo)A first information report (FIR) was registered on Tuesday after a complaint regarding the multi-crore cyber fraud was lodged through the national cybercrime reporting helpline “1930”. The Delhi Police’s special cyber crime investigation unit, Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO), was handed the investigation and of the total defrauded amount, the IFSO claimed to have frozen ₹4.28 crore.“On the complaint of Naresh Gujral, an FIR was registered on June 16. Immediate action was taken and an amount of ₹4.28 crore out of the total defrauded amount of ₹7.68 crore has been marked as lien/hold in various banks. Efforts are being made to apprehend the persons involved in the fraud,” said deputy commissioner of police (IFSO) Vinit Kumar.Naresh Gujral, who holds a chartered account degree, had been a Rajya Sabha member from 2007 to 2022. He runs a company in south Delhi’s Okhla that is into manufacturing of textile, leather and other apparel products. In his complaint, Naresh mentioned that he has given his company’s financial access to his financial team, a police officer said, asking not to be named.On June 12, the company’s chief financial officer (CFO) Shubham Singh received a WhatsApp message showing a profile picture (display picture) of Naresh. The person impersonated Naresh and said he wanted to deposit money in a bank account through RTGS. After receiving the message, the employee deposited ₹7.68 crore in the account through four RTGS transactions, the officer said.On June 16, the employee told Naresh’s daughter about the money transfer. She told her father about it and he denied giving any such instructions to the CFO. After realising that they were cheated, the family members reported the online fraud.“Initial probe has revealed that the cyber fraudsters hacked into the WhatsApp account, impersonated Naresh Gujral, and tricked his employee into transferring the money. The money was routed into three-four accounts. We have been able to freeze nearly 70% of the cheated money,” said another police officer, who also requested anonymity.When contacted, Naresh confirmed the cyber fraud. “However, due to the good work of the cyber crime team of Delhi Police, almost 70% of the cheated money has been recovered and they (investigators) are hopeful of recovering more. I would urge all victims to report it (a cyber fraud) quickly to the police as the cyber cell of the police is very effective,” he said in a text message to HT.