Hacker held for duping ex-CJI Lodha of Rs 1 lakh

Little over a week after former Chief Justice of India R.M. Lodha was cheated of Rs 1 lakh in an online scam after the email account of his friend, a retired judge, was hacked, the Delhi Police have arrested a Rajasthan-based hacker for the crime, a police officer said on Tuesday.

"The accused, identified as Dinesh Malli, was arrested on Monday from his residence in Udaipur in Rajasthan after a police team tracked his bank account in the State Bank of India and obtained CCTV footage of an ATM from where the accused withdrew the money," Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP) Parvinder Singh said, adding that the accused was being interrogated.

The incident came to light on June 1 when former CJI Lodha, a resident of south Delhi's Panchsheel Park, visited the office of the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Economic Offences Wing (EOW) and Cyber Cell, in Malviya Nagar police station to file a complaint.

In his complaint, he said that he used to regularly correspond through email with his friend and colleague, Justice (retd) B.P. Singh.

"On April 19, I received a mail from the email ID of B.P. Singh that he required immediate help of Rs 1 lakh for the treatment of his cousin brother as he (Singh) was unavailable over phone. I immediately deposited Rs 1 lakh online in two transactions in the given account number," Lodha said in the FIR.

"When Justice Singh regained control of his email on May 30, he sent a mail regarding the hacking of his account on April 18-19 to his contact list", the FIR said.

"When Lodha read the email sent by B.P. Singh regarding his hacked email, he immediately disclosed that he was cheated and duped of Rs 1 lakh by a hacker," Singh said.

On the suggestion of Singh, Lodha approached the Delhi Police and filed a complaint.

--IANS

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