Nagpur: The Nagpur police arrested a man from Ahmedabad for impersonating as the Personal Assistant of BJP National President J P Nadda and collecting lakhs of rupees from BJP MLAs in Maharashtra promising them ministries in the Shinde-Fadnavis Government.
According to the police, the accused, identified as Neeraj Singh Rathod, a resident of Morbi, Ahmedabad, made phone calls to BJP MLA Vikas Kumbhare (Central Nagpur), Tekchand Savarkar (Kamptee), Tanaji Mutkule (Hingoli), Narayan Kuche (Badnapur), Pravin Arlekar (Goa), and Basha Mowachang (Nagaland) and offered them ministerships in exchange for lakhs of rupees.
The complaint was filed by MLA Vikas Kumbhare after receiving several phone calls from the fraudster who offered him the post of Minister of Urban Development. During the conversation, the fraudster was also joined by one more person who posed as BJP President J P Nadda, said the police.
This made the whole situation more complicated and caused distress to the MLAs who were approached by the fraudsters. An offence under Sections 419 (cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), and 511 (punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment) of the Indian Penal Code was registered at Tehsil police station.
After receiving the complaint, the Nagpur police immediately formed a team and went to Gujarat to arrest the accused. The police team tracked down Neeraj Singh Rathod from Morbi, Ahmedabad, and brought him back to Nagpur for further investigation
Kumbhare asked to pay food bill for an event
MLA Vikas Kumbhare told a local newspaper that he received the first call from the fraudster last Sunday. Posing as Personal Assistant of BJP National President J P Nadda, the accused promised Kumbhare a Cabinet Minister’s post. Another fraudster joined the call, claiming to be Nadda himself. Kumbhare expressed his interest in a portfolio related to Nagpur development. And just like that, the fraudster offered him the post of Cabinet Minister of Urban Development in the Shinde-Fadnavis Government.
Two days later, the same fraudster called Kumbhare again to say that Nadda was no longer keen on offering the Urban Development Department. Instead, Kumbhare was offered the Excise Department. However, that’s not all. The fraudster brazenly asked whether Kumbhare could help financially to set up the BJP Government in Karnataka. On Thursday, Kumbhare received a call from someone claiming to be Nadda himself. During the interaction, ‘Nadda’ asked Kumbhare to make arrangements for food at a grand RSS event being held in Ahmedabad.
Later, a caterer phoned Kumbhare and asked to pay a bill of Rs 1.67 lakh and also shared a link to pay the bill. When Kumbhare received this call, he quickly realised that something was wrong and promptly reported the incident to the police. CP Amitesh Kumar dispatched a squad from Nagpur and arrested the accused from Gujarat.
