Pune: Police are investigating whether a 22-year-old IT professional who died by suicide in Pune earlier this month was targeted by cyber fraudsters who threatened to implicate him in a false criminal case and coerced him into transferring money.

Shikhar Saxena, an employee at Accenture who had relocated to Pune around three months prior, died on October 1 following a fall from a 27-storey residential building in the city. His father, Kumar Gaurav Saxena, has alleged that unidentified individuals repeatedly harassed his son and demanded money under threats of a drug-related prosecution, pointing to a modus operandi resembling the common digital arrest or drug parcel scam.

According to the First Information Report filed by his father, suspicious calls began on September 30. When Shikhar's phone was unreachable, a caller reached his mother and subsequently contacted his father, initially posing as an acquaintance from an online game before switching tactics to impersonate a sub-inspector from Haryana who claimed Shikhar was wanted for selling illegal drugs.

Disturbed by the developments, the family rushed to Pune, where a missing-person report was filed after Shikhar could not be located. The search concluded tragically the next morning when his body was discovered on the grounds of a high-rise complex located about a kilometre from his paying guest accommodation.

Subsequent checks of the young man's laptop revealed screenshots of financial transactions dated September 29, indicating money had been sent to various bank accounts tied to a WhatsApp contact named Ajay Kumar. Investigators are currently analyzing these financial records, examining mobile numbers, and working to unlock Shikhar's mobile device to trace the suspects, who are suspected to operate from outside Maharashtra.

Senior Police Inspector Sanjay Chavan confirmed that cyber fraud remains a primary focus of the ongoing inquiry. Following a subsequent suspicious call received by the father on October 13 from an individual inquiring about Shikhar, a formal complaint was registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for extortion, criminal intimidation, and abetment of suicide.

Originally from Uttarakhand, Shikhar was a graduate of the National Institute of Technology in Hamirpur and had joined Accenture as an Advanced Engineering Analyst in July. His family has remembered him as a bright and capable young man while urging authorities to apprehend those responsible for the mental distress leading up to his death.