Venkaiah Naidu
In picture: Venkaiah Naidu.Press Information Bureau

A man claiming to be Vice President Venkaiah Naidu's secretary called the Chief Justice of Karnataka in relation to a criminal case a few months back. Following an initial probe, the man from Bengaluru was booked for cheating over the weekend.

Man booked

Cheating cases are not uncommon. It's more a question of how far can one go without getting caught. In May 2020 the Karnataka High Court in Bengaluru almost became victim to a trap by an imposter. 

According to a report by TOI, the Karnataka High Court vigilance office was made aware of a particular case where someone pretending to be the secretary of the Vice President of India Venkaiah Naidu tried to contact the Chief Justice of Karnataka Abhay Shreeniwas Oka. 

The CJ's personal secretary Jayakumar had received a call on May 20th at 12:15 pm from a man on the landline. The man claimed to be IV Subbarao, VP Venkaiaha Naidu's secretary asking to speak to the chief justice regarding a criminal case and provided three contact numbers to reach him on. The case was in connection to a friend of Venkaiah Naidu's son.

Karnataka High Court
Karnataka High CourtTwitter

It was when the chief justice's personal secretary reached out to the Vice President's office and found that IV Subbarao hadn't made the call that the vigilance office was notified. Following a probe directed by the chief justice, it was uncovered that a man named Sujan from Bengaluru had made the call.

A complaint has been filed with the Central police station on July 10th and the culprit will be booked under various sections of the Technology act and IPC sections 511 (attempting to commit offences punishable) and 419 (cheating by impersonation) among others.