A Ballygunge resident who reportedly left home on Thursday afternoon saying he was going to face “interrogation” by Mumbai police and later became unreachable was tracked down to a hotel on Sarat Bose Road by police on Friday morning.
The police said when they reached the man, he was about to be duped by men who were posing as officers of Mumbai police and trying to blackmail him through a video chat.
The cops reached the spot shortly before he was about to make a payment to the fraudsters, who had contacted him saying there was a consignment in his name which contained objectionable materials and for which he would face police action.
“He had received a call from a fake courier company and was told the consignment had come under the scanner of the Mumbai police, who wanted to question them through video conferencing. He was instructed to leave home and check into a hotel where he would receive a video call from the Mumbai police,” said an officer of Calcutta police.
He left home around 4pm on Thursday, telling his wife that he was going to face questioning by the Mumbai police. After he failed to return home even late on Thursday, his wife lodged a missing diary with Ballygunge police station. His cellphone was switched off.
The police said the last location of the man’s phone was on Sarat Bose Road.
A search across multiple locations in the south Calcutta neighbourhood yielded results.