Udupi: Unknown persons posing as Lokayukta officials allegedly attempted to cheat a Udupi City Municipal Council official by threatening him with a fabricated complaint and departmental action. Following verification with the Lokayukta office, which confirmed the callers were imposters, a case was registered at the Udupi Town police station.The complainant, Kapil Dev S Godemane, first division revenue inspector, Udupi City Municipal Council, stated that he was serving as a first division revenue inspector at the CMC located in Moodanidamburu village. At 2.02 pm on Jan 19, an unknown person contacted the complainant via a WhatsApp call, claiming to be Cheluvaraj, a Lokayukta inspector from the Mangaluru division. The caller informed him that a complaint was received against him through email and asked him to “settle the issue”, warning that failure to do so would result in a criminal case and departmental inquiry. Subsequently, another person called the complainant, claiming to be a senior officer, and reiterated the threat, stating that a case will be registered if he did not comply as instructed by their officer. To verify the claims, the complainant visited the Udupi Lokayukta office, where officials informed him that no persons by the said names were working in their office, and that the calls did not originate from the Lokayukta office. It was thus confirmed that unknown persons attempted to cheat the complainant by impersonating Lokayukta officials. Based on the complaint, a case was registered at the Udupi Town police station under Sections 319(2) (cheating by personation) and 3(5) of the BNS.
