Parse, who is the social media handler of some politicians, honey trapped some prominent persons, including seven doctors, and extorted about Rs 20 crore from them
Nagpur: The Crime Branch of Nagpur Police on Thursday conducted searches at residence and office of self-styled social media strategist Ajeet Parse, who has been booked for cheating and extortion, and seized three luxury cars and six expensive bikes, including a Japan-made bike costing Rs17 lakh. The cops also sealed the locker and freezed bank accounts of the fraudster, media reports said.
Preliminary investigations revealed that Parse, who is the social media handler of some politicians, had allegedly honey trapped some prominent persons, including seven doctors, and extorted about Rs 20 crore from them. As Parse was hospitalized due to bad health conditions, police did not arrest him till late Thursday evening.
An engineering graduate, the accused Parse used to allegedly flaunt his close associations with top politicians, ministers and senior bureaucrats to dupe vulnerable persons. He seemed to have amassed huge wealth through his alleged trickeries, said reports.
Another Crime Branch team conducted a search at his office and allegedly recovered some incriminating documents. Investigators are also verifying the property documents and bank accounts of his family members and relatives. Two days ago, cops had also seized rubber stamps of different police stations, four laptops, letterheads bearing names of various ministers and some cheques.
Parse had been booked after a homeopath Dr Rajesh Murkute filed a police complaint alleging he was duped to the tune of Rs 4.50 crore. The Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar had handed over the probe to the Crime Branch. Yet another person has approached the Crime Branch claiming he had been duped by Parse to the tune of Rs35 lakh, reports added.
Dr Murkute told police that he came in contact with Parse through a relative in 2019. Parse, who allegedly was handling the social media accounts of some political leaders, told him that he had close contacts in the Prime Minister’s Office to get the permission for opening a medical college. He also lured Dr Murkute to get funds under Corporate Social Responsibility for opening the college. After taking Rs 25 lakh from Dr Murkute, he created a fake ID of the PMO and sent a letter to Dr Murkute that funds were released to him. Parse then came to know that he was the guarantor in the loan given by the bank to a customer.
According to police, Parse informed Dr Murkute a complaint was lodged with the CBI against the client. He then forwarded a copy of the fake warrant issued by the CBI on Dr Murkute’s WhatsApp. He told him that the CBI had issued an arrest warrant against him in this case. Parse then started extorting money from him.
The cops have come across strong evidence against Parse for having allegedly duped several persons on the pretext of helping them get employment in Maha Metro and other agencies.
