A relative of Maharashtra minister Girish Mahajan is among two persons arrested for allegedly cheating a person of Rs 2.17 crore by promising lucrative contracts linked to works for the upcoming Kumbh Mela in Nashik.
BJP leader Mahajan has acknowledged that the accused is a distant relative, but a "gone case", and called for stringent action against those found guilty.
The police made the arrests after unearthing an alleged scam of Rs 305 crore related to fake work orders for the Kumbh Mela.
The arrested persons, identified as 32-year-old Tanay Mahajan (relative of the minister) and Narendra Totaram Mahajan (51), allegedly cheated a person of Rs 2.17 crore under the pretext of helping him secure a housekeeping order for Kumbh Mela work, police said on Wednesday.
The accused duo and their accomplice allegedly won the complainant's trust by showing him a fake work order with a “list of Kumbh Mela works” containing the Government of India emblem and the name of Nashik Trimbakeshwar Kumbh Mela Authority, they said.
Girish Mahajan acknowledged Tanay was a distant relative and that criminal cases had been registered against him.
"He is a gone case. Similar cases had previously been registered against Tanay... I spoke with Nashik Police Commissioner Sandeep Karnik, and three to four names had surfaced in the crime. I believe six to seven persons were involved and should face strict action," the minister said.
Nashik DCP Kirankumar Chauhan on Wednesday said Girish Mahajan had alerted Karnik about incidents of cheating by a gang under the pretext of Kumbh Mela work orders.
"The investigation revealed that two accused had shown fake documents and allotted fake work orders for works worth Rs 591 crore to complainants who have come forward so far. In return, they took Rs 305 crore from them and cheated them. Accordingly, three cases were filed with Nashik Road Police on August 11, and two persons have been arrested so far," Chauhan said.
Girish Mahajan had said the Kumbh Mela tender process is conducted online. "However, a racket is working to cheat people by saying that the process of some tenders is on in an offline manner also," he said.
The minister clarified that work orders are not issued in the name of officials and do not bear authorised QR codes.
He said that 12 such incidents of cheating have been reported, following which Nashik Police registered three cases.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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