Mumbai: A big case of cheating has come to light in Pune, Maharashtra and that is that the fraudsters cheated one crore rupees from Serum Institute of India (SII), a company that manufactures anti-coronavirus vaccine in India. The biggest thing is that the thugs got one crore rupees transferred by sending a message in the name of Adar Poonawalla, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SII.

According to the information given by the police, the fraudsters have duped this institution of more than one crore rupees by sending a message in the name of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SII Adar Poonawalla, demanding the transfer of one crore rupees. An official from the Bundgarden police station said the fraud took place between the afternoon of Wednesday and Thursday. Senior Inspector Pratap Mankar said that an FIR has been registered against unknown persons for cheating and offenses under the Information Technology Act.

According to the FIR lodged with the police, Satish Deshpande, one of the directors of SII, received a WhatsApp message from a person who identified himself as Adar Poonawalla. According to the complaint filed by the finance manager of the firm, the sender of the message asked Deshpande to transfer the money to certain bank accounts immediately. Police Inspector Manekar said that assuming this message was from the CEO (Chief Executive Officer), the company officials transferred Rs 1,01,01,554 online.

The police inspector said that after transferring the money, it was found that Adar Poonawalla had never sent any such WhatsApp message. He said that investigation is going on in this matter. SII has a plant near Pune. SII is manufacturing the anti-coronavirus vaccine Kovishield, among other vaccines.