Punjab CM’s wife falls prey to online fraud, loses Rs 23 lakh

Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh’s wife and Patiala MP Preneet Kaur fell prey to online fraud, losing Rs 23 lakh to a scamster who duped her through a mobile phone call, posing as a bank manager.

Patiala senior superintendent of police (SSP) Mandeep Singh Sidhu said the incident happened on July 29 when the MP was in Delhi to attend the Parliament session.

The Ranchi police arrested the conman identified as Attaul Ansari on August 3, following which a team of Patiala police have reached the Jharkhand capital to bring accused on production warrant, said the SSP.

The FIR stated that the accused introduced himself as a State Bank of India manager and told the MP that he needed her account details to deposit the pending arrears and some salary component.

“Preneet shared her bank account number, ATM card number, CVC number and also the OTP (one-time password) received on her phone with the accused,” said police.

“Once the matter was reported to police, a team of cyber cell experts were put on the job to trace the caller. Ansari is one of the key members of a gang of such cyber criminals who are operating from remote Jamtara village in Jharkhand,” the SSP added.