Srinagar, May 18 (IANS): A court on Monday ordered probe into the fraudulent collection of Rs 27 lakh as donation by a local who claimed he had no food to eat during the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and the ongoing pandemic.

In a video circulated on the social media last week a local belonging to Kashmir's Kupwara district, who is presently living in Srinagar city, had claimed that he and his family had to break their day-long fast with water as they had no food to eat.

He had sought donations to save his family from starvation.

Interestingly, Rs 27 lakh were donated by people into his account within 24 hours.

Police has already lodged an FIR against the person for 'willingly and intentionally cheating public'.

Reports said the fraudster had earlier also cheated people by seeking monetary help to save his 'starving family'

Reports here said the account into which the donations poured has already been seized by the authorities.

Following a complaint filed via virtual mode against the fraudster by a local lawyer, the Chief Judicial Magistrate Srinagar, Gowhar Majid said in his order, "In order to ascertain the truthfulness or otherwise, I deem it proper to get the complaint investigated through the station house officer (SHO) of the concerned police station under section 202 CrPC."

The complaining lawyer has also mentioned the property details of the accused and the names of those who helped him after learning about the alleged plight of the accused.