Fake ex-minister, aides dupe bizman of ₹6 crore
₹ 6 crore
Two of the accused posed as officers on special duty (OSDs) of ministers, while one claimed to be a former minister. They took ₹6 crore upfront to secure the fictitious contract.
The complainant is Taufail Khan, 45, proprietor of a Vidyavihar-based company called Novel Designer Display System Private Limited, which manufactures wooden and metal furniture. One of the suspects, Nitin Gupta, had worked for Khan as a consultant and promised to introduce him to senior government officials to bag a massive contract.
Gupta fixed a meeting between Khan and three persons in an expensive hotel in Bandra in March. They were Gupta's partners in crime. One, he claimed, was a former minister, and the other two were OSDs to the state health minister, and food and drugs minister. They were carrying what looked like Maharashtra government identity cards, said the Bandra police.
The accused offered Khan a contract to manufacture 12,000 ICU beds, and said their technical teams would visit his manufacturing facilities to verify their production capacity.
During the meeting, the accused also discussed advance payments and commissions, as well as sums that senior government officers would need to get the process started. After a few days, Khan was invited to another meeting, where he was introduced to a fifth suspect, who he was told was an IAS officer.
Khan walked right into the trap. He prepared a sample bed, which the accused 'inspected', and they agreed to give him an order for 12,000 beds for ₹100 crore, reads the First Information Report (FIR).
The accused then started pressuring Khan to pay ₹6 crore in cash, which they needed to distribute to various government officers. Khan borrowed from friends and relatives, and paid the money in instalments.
The accused then faked a GR, mentioning the contract. When Khan checked the government portal, he found no GR issued in his firm's name. That's when he approached the police.
'The five accused are Nitin Gupta, Ramesh Bansode, Balaji Pawar, Uddhav Bhamre and Kaustubh Bhamre. None of them is an OSD, a minister or a former minister. Our investigation is ongoing,' said an officer with the Bandra police.
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