HYDERABAD: In two separate cases, fraudsters posing as Bengaluru police and CBI officials duped an 80-year-old retired Osmania University professor from Tarnaka and a 68-year-old businessman from Mancherial of Rs 2.1 crore and Rs 1.7 crore, respectively.Based on their complaints, the Hyderabad Cyber Crime Police and TGCSB Ramagundam police registered cases. Interestingly, the names used by the fraudsters in both incidents were the same.On March 11, the retired professor from Tarnaka received a call from a person who introduced himself as Shiva Prasad, SI at Ashok Nagar PS in Bengaluru. Soon after, another individual, posing as CBI officer Akash Kulhari, contacted him and threatened arrest in connection with a money laundering case linked to a notorious offender, Sadakhat Khan, unless he paid a ‘security deposit’.

Under pressure, the retired professor made multiple transactions between March and May 2025, transferring funds from his accounts in the Bank of Baroda, State Bank of India, and Telangana State Co-op Apex Bank. ‘Financial history’Later, the fraudsters introduced another impersonator, ‘Navjor Simi IPS,’ who assured the victim that the money would be refunded after the completion of the investigation. “I prematurely closed my fixed deposits, took hand loans, and transferred the money,” the 80-year-old said. In his last transaction on May 15, he sent Rs 4.9 lakh. In total, the retired professor transferred Rs 2.12 crore. “The retired professor waited for about a week, hoping that the ‘cops’ would return his money after verifying his financial transaction history.When they stopped responding, he lodged a complaint. We are analysing the bank transaction data to identify the accused,” said an official.In a similar incident, a 68-year-old businessman from Mancherial was duped of Rs 1.74 crore by fraudsters using the same identities – SI Shiva Prasad of Bengaluru police and CBI officer Akash Kulhari. On March 18, the victim received a call from ‘SI Shiva Prasad’, who contacted him to ‘CBI officer Akash Kulhari’. The caller claimed the victim was involved in a human trafficking and money laundering case linked to Sadakhat Khan. “They threatened to arrest me and forced me to transfer Rs 1.74 crore to various bank accounts between March 19 and April 28 on the pretext of verifying my financial records. They claimed the money would be refunded. Apart from my savings, I also mortgaged gold jewellery to raise money,” the businessman said.When the ‘officers’ failed to refund the amount and stopped responding to his calls, the businessman approached the police and lodged a complaint at TGCSB Ramagundam. Separate cases were registered under relevant sections of the BNS and IT Act.