Jailed scammer sends threat mail to Allahabad HC judge using cop's phone, FIR lodged

An FIR has been registered against a man, accused of cyber fraud worth around Rs 3,700 crore and presently lodged in jail, for allegedly sending a threatening email to an Allahabad High Court judge using a police constable's phone, police said on Sunday.

According to an official, Anubhav Mittal, accused of duping nearly seven lakh investors to the tune of Rs 3,700 crore through a bogus online trading scheme and currently lodged in Lucknow jail, allegedly sent the email under a fake name to frame another inmate.

The message warned that a judge of the Lucknow bench "was going to be murdered," the official said, adding that an inquiry by the Cyber Cell and Crime Branch revealed that the email originated from constable Ajay Kumar's phone.

"A case has been registered against Anubhav Mittal and Ajay Kumar, police constable (posted at the Police Lines) for criminal intimidation and under the IT Act. The FIR was registered on Friday. The police constable had accompanied Mittal during a hearing in court on November 4," the senior official told PTI.

Kumar said Mittal had borrowed his phone on November 4 to check his case status and secretly created a new email ID, setting a timer to auto-send the threat message the next morning, the police said.

Mittal allegedly orchestrated the act to implicate fellow inmate Anandeshwar Agrahari, jailed since December 2023 in a murder case, following personal enmity, they added.

Mittal, arrested by a special task force in 2017, already faces 324 criminal cases in connection with a Rs 3,700-crore scam. His wife Ayushi and father Sunil Mittal are also co-accused and remain in judicial custody.