Email in minister’s name seeks money from BMTC officer, complaint filed

Karnataka Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy.

Credit: DH File Photo 

Bengaluru: A person allegedly impersonated Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy and sought the transfer of nearly Rs 10 lakh from a senior Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) officer. 

Abdul Khuddus B, chief accounts officer and financial advisor at the BMTC, filed a police complaint in this regard on January 12. 

According to the senior officer, around 4.13 pm on December 13, he received an email from [e-mail]. According to Khuddus, the email sought a Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) payment of Rs 9.7 lakh and was sent to his official email ID, the FIR noted. 

Realising the email was from a fake address, the officer approached the police. 

A case has been registered under sections 66C (punishment for identity theft), 66D (punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resources) and 84C (punishment for attempt to commit offences) of the Information Technology Act at the Central Cyber Economic and Narcotics Crime (CEN) police station. 

The investigators are yet to find the source of the email, but a probe is on, well-placed police sources said. 

Despite multiple attempts by DH, Khuddus was unavailable for comment.