Chennai: Police delay registering FIR on cyber fraud for 11 months

The victim Anand Murali (52), a former techie of Mylapore, received an SMS from a private bank in November last saying he won reward points worth Rs 2 lakh on his credit card and can transfer it as cash to his credit card by clicking the link in the message. 

Believing it, Anand Murali opened the link, when the web page offered options to transfer the points to his credit card or bank a/c among others. 

He chose the first option and immediately received a call. The person claiming to be the bank representative asked him to provide the email ID for confirmation. When he did so and waited for the response, Anand Murali received four SMSes stating Rs 1,99,319 was withdrawn from his credit card in four transactions. Of these three had been made to different payment wallets. 

Anand Murali approached the bank and was diverted to police. Since the bank did not accept the online complaint, he complained to Royapettah police on December 12. 

However, he was just issued a CSR. In March, Anand Murali reportedly raised the matter with the then DGP JK Tripathi and was allegedly assured of action. However, Royapettah police delayed registering FIR. 

With no other option, Anand Murali submitted a petition at the city Police commissionerate recently and it was forwarded to the police station concerned after which Royapettah police registered a case under IPC Sec 420. 

When contacted, a police officer at Royapettah station said due procedure was followed and a CSR was immediately issued before the cyber cell got into action. “It was too late already, but the complainant insisted on an FIR as he was told that the money would be reimbursed by the bank. So, we have registered an FIR now,” said the officer.