Kozhikode: A special cyber police team is heading to New Delhi to investigate a scam where Congress leader and MLA Vidya Balakrishnan was offered a state cabinet minister portfolio in exchange for ₹3 crore. The Cyber Police tracked the location of the fraudulent SIM card used in the crime to a registered address in Delhi, which the team now intends to verify. The deceptive call was made via WhatsApp. S M Pradeep Kumar, the Assistant Commissioner of the Kozhikode City Cyber Crime branch, is heading the investigation.
 

The incident occurred on July 6 at around 2.00 pm when Vidya received a call from an individual posing as Rajkumar from the Delhi office of MP Priyanka Gandhi. Upon learning of the fraud, Priyanka Gandhi intervened personally and sent a voice note from the real Rajkumar to Vidya's phone. Vidya confirmed a clear discrepancy between the two voices. Following this, she lodged a formal complaint directly with City Police Commissioner A P Shoukathali on Saturday. A case has been registered for cheating by impersonation and under Section 66D of the IT Act.

Meanwhile MLA and DCC president K Praveen Kumar stated that a deep-rooted conspiracy is suspected behind the incident and urged the police to immediately unmask the culprits.