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Haryana BJP leader held for duping many by posing as OSD to home minister Anil Vij
The accused, Ashish Gulati, BJP’s vice-president of Mahesh Nagar mandal in Ambala Cantonment, also Vij’s constituency, was booked along with his purported nephew Lakshya Dutta for the fraud
A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader was arrested for allegedly impersonating as officer on special duty (OSD) to home minister Anil Vij and duping a Kurukshetra man and others of ₹27 lakh on the pretext of getting their works related to the police department done, officials said on Saturday.
The accused, Ashish Gulati, saffron party’s vice-president of Mahesh Nagar mandal in Ambala Cantonment, also Vij’s constituency, was booked along with his purported nephew Lakshya Dutta for the fraud.
The accused took money through the complainant, Manish Garg, to get one of the job seekers recruited as a sub-inspector, where Lakshya provided a fake appointment list and details of training in Madhuban, Sibash Kabiraj, IGP, Ambala Range, said.
“On Thursday, Garg, had submitted a written complaint to the minister at his residence following which I was asked to probe and as per the evidence submitted prima facie, I ordered registration of the FIR on Friday against both of them,” said Kabiraj.
Garg, who owns a business in Pehowa grain market, alleged that he met Lakshya in March in Cantonment, who further introduced Ashish as OSD to Vij and the minister as his uncle.
During the meeting, Ashish called one of the Indian police service (IPS) officers on speaker to seek details of a criminal case and also assured to get an amount of ₹1.31 crore released.
“I was told to contact them for any kind of work related to the police department and speak to Lakshya on his behalf. They took ₹2 lakh from me for this work,” Garg said.
He further said that a week later, Lakshya assured me ₹1.31 crore with interest as ₹1.87 crore and named a DSP, who has helped in reaching a compromise.
“He also sought ₹18 lakh to get anyone recruited as an SI and I spoke about this to my landlord Vikram Singh, who accepted the offer for his relative Abhishek. Vikram sent ₹11 lakh from a bank account and ₹7 lakh in cash. Lakshya shared an order copy of the SI with belt number and mentioned joining in Madhuban on May 5,” the FIR reads.
In the meantime, Vikram also asked for the reinstatement of his other relative Ajay in ₹8 lakh, out of which ₹7 lakh was transferred through a bank.
Garg said they were assured of all works since May, but nothing conclusive happened and they were duped of ₹27 lakh.
SP Jashandeep Singh Randhawa said a case was registered under Sections 120-B, 406 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code and Ashish was arrested, while Lakshya was on the run.
“Ashish was presented before a court and a remand was sought, but he was sent to judicial custody. A revised application will be filed to seek remand,” he added.
IGP Kabiraj said as the case is of a serious nature, further action will be taken against others involved, based on the evidence during the course of the investigation.
Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party’s state vice-president Chitra Sarwara, in a video message, said this is disappointing how those who were believed by the voters are now looting them in the name of government.
