Impostors arrested for cheating VIPs
CONMEN They posed as top leaders of BJP and Cong, one of them has a criminal history TAKEN FOR A RIDE
NEW DELHI: A gang that was involved in extorting money from politicians, ministers and bureaucrats by impersonating as top ranked political leaders of the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was busted by the Delhi police on Friday.
The racket’s kingpin Sanjay Tiwari, a 40-year-old man who claimed to be a journalist, and his associate, Gaurav Sharma, 23, were arrested on Wednesday from near ITO following an investigation into a similar case.
Ravindra Yadav, joint commissioner of police (crime) said that posing as Ram Madhav, BJP’s national general secretary,
Tiwari allegedly tried to extort ₹10 lakh from Amar Kumar Bauri, minister of revenue, registration and land in the Jharkhand government.
Police said that the two were allegedly demanding money for party funds for the upcoming elections in Punjab, Goa and Uttar Pradesh.
“The unknown caller made eight to ten calls to me and my PA. I personally spoke to Shri Ram Madhav and he confirmed that no such calls were made by him or from his office,” Bauri told HT over phone.
According to Yadav, Tiwari was previously involved in 17 cases of cheating, blackmailing and extortion registered in Delhi and other states since 2005.
He was arrested twice in the past, last time in October 2016 when he and his accomplices allegedly tried to extort money from former BJP’s South Delhi MLA Anil Sharma by falsely claiming to be organising a ‘hawan’ on behalf of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
“Tiwari was bailed out in November 2016 and since then he disclosed to have cheated at least ten high-profile politicians, including former deputy chief minister of Manipur Achoba Singh, on one pretext or the other,” Yadav said.
He took ₹50,000 from Pramila
from Pramila Rani Brahma of BJP from Assam, impersonating as PA of minister in the ministry of development of the north eastern region.
from Bhika Sole, BJP’s Nagaland state president, posing as Personal Assistant to national general secretary of BJP in the name of contribution to party funds.
Rani of BJP from Assam by impersonating as PA to minister of development of north-eastern region (DONER),” he said, adding that none of this was reported to the police. Madhur Verma, DCP (crime), said that on Tuesday, Bauri’s personal secretary Shushant Mukherjee filed a case and claimed that an unknown caller posing as Ram Madhav was calling the MLA for the past three days and asking him to contribute funds for the elections.
On verification from the office of Madhav, Verma said, it was
from HR Joshan, ex- Congress MLA from Punjab by impersonating as Madhavan, PA to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, by promising him a ticket in the Punjab assembly elections.
from Achoba Singh, ex-deputy CM of Manipur, as contribution in constructing a new building, by posing as Bhaiyyaji Joshi of RSS.
learnt that no such communication was ever made.
Sources in BJP said that Madhav’s office was alerted by the Jharkhand MLA, following which they complained to the cops. “The extortionist had made similar phone calls to some leaders in the North East, pretending to be Madhav. He allegedly masqueraded as Sonia Gandhi’s PA Madhavan,” said a source.
“A case was registered and we took up the investigation,” said Verma adding their probe pointed the needle of suspicion
from P Tusiang Sang, parliament secretary, Meghalaya, Congress
from Nilo Rangma, former Congress MLA, Nagaland, by posing as Sonia Gandhi’s PA
from KS Thanga, minister in Mizoram Congress, by impersonating as PA in Doner ministry.
on Sanjay Tiwari and his aides, as they were booked in the past in similar crimes. Tiwari and his aide Gaurav Sharma were arrested when they arrived near ITO to allegedly collect the extortion money.
Tiwari’s interrogation revealed that he had a long criminal history and operated very meticulously, said police.
Tiwari allegedly used to make a thorough research about his targets, mostly politicians and government officials who had high aspirations, and then lured them with favours.