Former CJI R M Lodha duped of Rs one lakh

Former Chief Justice of India (CJI) RM Lodha was duped of Rs 1 lakh after the email account of his colleague was hacked, police said Monday.

The Delhi police have registered a case and are investigating the matter, officials said.

The incident came to light on May 30 after the former CJI, a resident of south Delhi's Panchsheel Park received an email from retired Supreme Court Judge BP Singh which stated that his email id was hacked by some unknown person on the intervening night of April 18 and 19.

Realising that he was duped via his colleague's email id by an "unknown hacker", Justice Lodha approached the Malviya Nagar police station the same day, police said.

A case has been registered, police said adding they are trying to identify the hacker.

In the complaint, Justice Lodha reported that on April 19 at about 1.40 am, he received an email from the account of his colleague and retired Judge of the Supreme Court of India - B.P.Singh with whom he had been regularly corresponding for ongoing arbitration matters.

In the email, Lodha was asked for some urgent help and was requested to get back to Singh through email.

"I saw the mail at around 3.30 am and responded through email to Singh. At 3.51 am, I received another email stating that his (Singh) cousin was suffering from acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and they were short of funds," he wrote in the complaint.

The email also stated that he (Singh) needed help from Lodha with the transfer of Rs 95,000 or Rs 1 lakh via bank deposit in the surgeon's bank account.

"I responded to the mail at 4.00 am and asked for the bank account details for transfer the funds. I got an email at 4.10 am wherein the details of the bank account were furnished," Lodha stated in the complaint.

At 4.13 am, Justice Lodha responded via email that he would transfer funds at the earliest. On April 19 at 8 am, he transferred an amount of Rs 50,000 and at 5.59 PM, he again transferred another Rs 50,000, police said.

However, On May 30, the former CJI received a mail from Singh stating that his email id has been hacked.