A man and his wife have been booked for swindling 18 individuals of Rs 55 lakh in Maharashtra's Jalgaon by impersonating the personal assistant of Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, PTI reported citing a police official on Saturday.
Hitesh Ramesh Sanghvi and his wife Arpita, residents of Pachora in Jalgaon, allegedly promised various favors, including government jobs, tenders and MHADA flats.
Harshal Bari, a dairy businessman, became acquainted with Sanghvi, who claimed to be the personal assistant of the Deputy CM with an office in Mumbai's Mantralaya. Bari reportedly paid Sanghvi Rs 10 lakh for an MHADA flat and an additional Rs 7 lakh for a railway job for his wife.
The accused allegedly presented fake documents, including letterheads, appointment letters and other materials to deceive the victims. Between November 2024 and August 8 this year, Bari had handed over a total of Rs 13.38 lakh to him.
Fraud case filed
Upon realising he had been scammed, Bari filed a complaint on Thursday.
A case of fraud and other offences has been filed against the Sanghvi couple at the Shanipeth police station, the official confirmed.
UP STF exposes fake embassy
Earlier, the UP STF nabbed one Harshvardhan Jain on July 24 for running a fake embassy in Ghaziabad. Jain has also established several shell companies to defraud people and had bank accounts in various foreign countries. He allegedly duped several people by promising them overseas employment.
Authorities have revealed that Harshvardhan Jain maintained at least 11 bank accounts across multiple countries—six in Dubai, three in Mauritius and one each in London and India. Investigations also uncovered that Jain, in collaboration with his associate Ehsan Ali Syed, established numerous shell companies overseas as part of a broader fraud operation.
Between 2008 and 2011, Syed and his network are believed to have orchestrated a large-scale scam involving fake loans and fraud businesses, defrauding victims of approximately 70 million euros. He was apprehended in London in November 2022 and subsequently extradited to Switzerland in July 2023. A Zurich court later sentenced him to six and a half years in prison.
