Pune, October 11, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
A 78-year-old Pune resident has allegedly been defrauded of Rs 8 lakh by an unidentified person posing as an official of the Election Commission of India (ECI), police said on Sunday. This is the second such case reported in the city.
The victim, Jitendra Kumar Ahuja, a resident of Ghorpadi, was allegedly cheated of Rs 8,00,015.34. A case was registered at Mundhwa police station on October 10.
According to the police, the accused gained Ahuja’s trust by claiming to be an ECI official and telling him that there was a mismatch in his documents. The accused then sent him a link and asked him to enter his information.
Police suspect that the link enabled the accused to gain access to Ahuja’s mobile phone and siphon off more than Rs 8 lakh. The incident reportedly took place between October 1 and 3.
A case has been registered against the unidentified accused under Sections 319(2), 318(4) and 3(5) of the Indian Penal Code, along with Sections 66(C) and 66(D) of the Information Technology Act.
Earlier on Sunday, another similar case came to light in Pune, in which an 80-year-old man allegedly lost Rs 5 lakh in an online fraud carried out by a person posing as an ECI official under the pretext of updating his voter card.
The second victim, Kanjasheri Vaidyanathan Venkatesan, is a retired employee of an automotive manufacturing company who lives in the Yerwada area of Pune. A case has been registered at Lakshminagar police station.
According to the police, the accused contacted Venkatesan by phone, claimed to be calling from the ECI office and told him that his voter card needed to be updated.
The accused allegedly instructed him to download an APK file. After the file was installed, the fraudster reportedly gained access to the victim’s mobile screen, compromised his banking passwords and fraudulently transferred Rs 5 lakh.
A case has been registered in this matter under Sections 308, 318(4) and 319(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with Sections 66(D) and 66(C) of the Information Technology Act.
Police said the identity and address of the accused in the second case have not yet been established. Investigations into both incidents are underway, and further details are awaited.
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