Former Rajya Sabha MP Naresh Gujral was duped of ₹7.68 crore after cyber fraudsters impersonated him on a messaging platform and tricked one of his employees into transferring funds to multiple bank accounts, the police said on Thursday.
Mr. Gujral, 78, is the son of the late I.K. Gujral, who served as India’s 12th Prime Minister from April 1997 to March 1998.
According to the police, the fraud took place between June 12 and June 16. The employee, who was authorised to handle Mr. Gujral’s financial transactions, was contacted by the accused through a social media messaging account displaying Mr. Gujral’s photograph.
The fraudsters sent messages directing the employee to transfer money through Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) for what appeared to be urgent business requirements.
Believing the instructions to be genuine, the employee carried out four RTGS transactions over four days, transferring a total of ₹7.68 crore to accounts specified by the fraudsters.
The fraud came to light on June 16 when the transactions were noticed by Mr. Gujral’s daughter. Upon verification, it was found that he had not issued any such instructions.
Based on Mr. Gujral’s complaint, an FIR was registered the same day. The police said immediate steps were taken to trace the funds.
“An amount of ₹4.28 crore out of the total defrauded sum has been marked as lien in various banks. Efforts are on to apprehend those involved,” a senior police officer said.
Published – June 19, 2026 01:20 am IST
