Supreme Court files cyber crime complaint against X user posing as chief justice

The Supreme Court of India on Tuesday filed a cyber crime complaint with the Delhi Police against a social media handle that impersonated the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and sought money for a cab fare.

The complaint was filed after CJI Chandrachud took note of the screenshot of a message that went viral on social media on Sunday. Following this, the Supreme Court’s security department took note of CJI’s complaint and registered a first information report with the cyber crime department.

What did the scammer’s message say?
In the post, the scammer, who used CJI’s name as its handle and his picture for the display image, sought ₹500 from an X user, identified as Kailash Meghwal, to avail a cab to attend a Collegium meeting. The scammer also promised Meghwal that he would return the money once he reached the Supreme Court.

According to the screenshot of the post, the impersonator was “stranded” at Connaught Place (CP) in Delhi.

“Hello, I am CJI and we have urgent meeting of the collegium and I am stuck at Cannaught Place can you send me 500rs for cab?,” the scammer wrote in the message.

To make the text look even more real, the fraudster added “sent from iPad” at the end of the message.

In another incident in March this year, a 42-year-old man was arrested for allegedly impersonating a Delhi Police crime branch inspector and duping two people of ₹4 lakh on the pretext of selling luxury cars and costly cellphones auctioned through Delhi courts at throwaway prices. According to the police, the accused, identified Ayub Khan, was arrested following an investigation into a cheating case registered at the Subzi Mandi police station in January.

The police recovered a forged identity card of Delhi police from Khan.

Khan was previously involved in four similar cheating cases, which were registered at Kamla Market, Daryaganj, Hari Nagar and Parliament Street police station in Delhi, the police said. After cheating people, Khan used the money to live a lavish life and also spent it at nightclubs in Delhi and Mumbai, they added.