A 58-year-old retired employee of Torrent Power, Shrenik Vaishnav, fell victim to an elaborate scam where cybercriminals impersonating Mumbai police and former Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik defrauded him of Rs 41 lakh. The scammers posed as ‘Pradip Sawant of Mumbai police cybercrime cell’ and fabricated accusations of money laundering, threatening to arrest Vaishnav if he did not cooperate. They instructed him to transfer all his money into a bank account for ‘verification’ and forced him to sell his shares and deposit the proceeds into another account. The scam came to light after Vaishnav paid the hefty sum and the scammers disconnected all communication, prompting him to file a complaint with the cybercrime helpline. The cybercrime police have registered a complaint under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including extortion, breach of trust, and impersonation of a public servant.