Crime & Courts

Family of scammers: Selangor cops confirm opening investigation papers

KUALA LUMPUR: Selangor police have begun investigating the alleged donation scam by a family from Sentul.

Selangor police chief Datuk Hussein Omar confirmed receiving social media influencer V. Muralitharan's police reports, adding that the case was being investigated under Section 420 for cheating.

"The investigation just started (on Tuesday). We will view all the reports made pertaining to this case in the course of our investigations.

"For the time being, we will call Murali and team. Then, we will call the family for their side," he said.

Hussein did not discount the possibility of contacting their counterparts in India, where large amounts of cash from the previous donation collections had been regularly sent.

"If needed we will also contact the investigators in India to get their assistance in the case," he told the New Straits Times.

Hussein was commenting on the case of a family, including a 60-year-old woman, which has been seeking donations allegedly for the woman's daughter who is a cancer patient at a hospital in India who urgently needed RM400,000 for surgery.

The family has been seeking donations from the public, VIPs, politicians and non-governmental organisations and had so far gathered hundreds of thousands of ringgit, including RM308,000 this month after seeking help from Muralitharan.

Muralitharan had lodged two police reports after confirming with the hospital in India that no such patient existed.

Meanwhile, for the past week, social media platforms have been buzzing with reaction videos and comments on the case.

While many praised Muralitharan for his honest admission, there were also certain NGOs and individuals who condemned and blamed him for trusting the family's words, and making the video plea for the girl's alleged cancer treatment.

Many netizens also expressed disappointment on the police for not acting on the reports lodged by donors as well as Murali.

The first report was made by Murali on March 21 a subsequent report was lodged on March 27 after the hospital denied treating the girl for cancer of the uterus in India.

Apart from this, public who had donated to the cause have also lodged reports at various police stations.

Several complaints have also been filed via the National Scam Response Centre regarding the fraud scam executed by the three family members.

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