Police charge WhatsApp officials for ‘failure to cooperate’ in fraud investigation: report

Gurugram police filed a case against WhatsApp’s directors and nodal officials for refusing to provide information about certain accounts in connection with an investigation, India Today reported.

Police have lodged an FIR against WhatsApp directors and Nodal officials for alleged non-cooperation in an investigation into a Rs 4 crore fraud case.

During investigation, Gurugram police emailed a notice to WhatsApp on July 17 seeking specific information about specific mobile phone numbers. However, WhatsApp did not comply and instead raised “unlawful” objections.

On July 25, police sent another detailed request for information about specific cell phone numbers, but WhatsApp again did not respond until August 28. Despite repeated follow-up, WhatsApp did not provide the required information to the police.

Police said WhatsApp’s lack of cooperation was helping the accused in the case. As a result, a case was registered against the directors and Nodal on September 28 at the Cyber ​​Crime East police station in Gurugram under Sections 223(A), 241, 249(C) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology Act -Submitted to WhatsApp officials.

“Although WhatsApp management is legally obliged to provide the requested information under the applicable laws of the country, it violated the legal instructions by not providing the requested information,” the police said in a statement.

According to a Times of India report, police were investigating a fraud case filed by The Commodity Hub in May. It was alleged that Rs 4 crore were transferred from the company’s bank account to four different accounts without the company’s top officials knowing about it, the report added. So far, ten accused have been arrested in the case.

The investigation was marred by lack of cooperation from WhatsApp officials as they did not provide details of the four numbers linked to the case, TOI reported quoting Priyanshu Dewan, ACP-Cyber ​​Crime, Gurugram.