Mumbai: Juhu police nab conman posing as UP govt official

The businessman was promised huge tenders to supply furniture for schools. Representation Pic

The Juhu police have arrested a man who is part of a gang that cheated a Mumbai businessman by posing as officers of the Department Of Basic Education, Uttar Pradesh. The businessman was cheated of Rs 48.6 lakh which he paid to receive a tender worth Rs 32 crore to provide furniture for schools in Uttar Pradesh.

The police arrested Abhishek Kumar Ajay Nigam and are on the lookout for his accomplices Sanjay Singh, Sanjay Tiwari, Vivek Jaiswal and Angel Gupta. They are accused of posing as government officials from UP and defrauding the businessman. According to police sources, the 40-year-old businessman operates from an office at Lakshmi Industrial Estate in Andheri West. His company has been involved in procuring bulk orders for furniture through tenders and retail furniture sales since 1967.

He was told about the business opportunity to fulfil a large requirement of wooden benches for schools in UP by Kapil Dev - a business associate from Delhi. He was told a tender in this regard, worth Rs 16 crore, would be floated for each district. Sanjay Singh, who claimed to be a liaison officer in UP, was introduced as someone who could assist with securing the tender.

The businessman met with Singh and Sanjay Tiwari in Juhu last year where they discussed the tender for school benches. Tiwari identified himself as the deputy director of the Department Of Basic Education, Uttar Pradesh. The duo assured him of an order worth R32.5 crore and took an advance payment of Rs 13.06 lakh from him to ensure he secured the order.

Also read: Mumbai: PAP homeless as BMC clears path to Gokhale

Over time, the businessmen ended up paying a total of R48.66 lakh to the conmen through cash, checks, and hawala transactions for various purported reasons related to the tender. Later, he traveled to UP where he was introduced to Vivek Jaiswal and Angel Gupta who showed him a bogus letter claiming that his company had received the order. However, the order was not fulfilled within the promised timeframe and the accused began avoiding him.

In March, the businessman sent a colleague to investigate the matter, only to discover that there were no officers named Sanjay Singh and Sanjay Tiwari working in the relevant government department. All documents provided to him also turned out to be fake. He then complained to the Juhu police and a case was registered against Singh, Tiwari, Jaiswal and Gupta.

According to the police, Abhishek Kumar Ajay Nigam was detained during their search and was later arrested after his involvement in the fraud was revealed during investigations.