Couple arrested in May duped many of ₹100 crore: Cops

According to the police, Ratnakar Upadhyay, 40, and Anita Upadhyay, 35, have properties in Delhi-NCR and other states.

Over three months after the Chhattisgarh and Delhi police arrested a couple for cheating hundreds of vendors of ₹50-100 crore across a dozen states, the Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing is now probing a larger scam led by the couple. They dupe people in the name of assigning government tenders.

Couple arrested in May duped many of ₹100 crore: Cops

According to the police, Ratnakar Upadhyay, 40, and Anita Upadhyay, 35, have properties in Delhi-NCR and other states.

Investigators aware of the matter said the couple was first nabbed by Chhattisgarh Police in May 2025. The two, along with their associates, purportedly run an NGO Rashtriya Gramin Saksharta Mission (RGSM). Police said the accused showed RGSM as a subsidiary under the education ministry and even forged letters and letter heads. They also made a website to dupe their targets.

“At present, the EOW is probing six cases against them in Delhi alone. In July, they cheated a retired army man by promising him a tender of uniforms. They took the consignment from him, commission fee and never paid him. This week, we received a complaint from a vendor in Laxmi Nagar that the couple approached him to place an order of stationery items for children across many government schools. The target then supplied items and sent ₹25 lakh to the accused...” a senior police officer said.

The FIR, also seen by HT, mentioned that RGSM was shown as a semi-private organisation working for government schools in India, authenticated by the education ministry, and funded by the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).

In July, police had said that the couple was caught with two trucks filled with uniforms. They had cheated another vendor of ₹1.5 crore. Investigation revealed that they had taken supplies from vendors in several northern states.

In May, police said Chhattisgarh Police arrested the two for cheating a vendor of ₹5 -6 crore.

“We found they would take sweaters, uniforms, stationery and other school supplies but never pay the vendors. In addition to this, they would also take money/commission from vendors for allotting them the tenders. The cheated amount would range from ₹20 lakh to ₹6 crore. This would include the allotment fee, processing fee, advance money etc...”

Police said their offices in UP’s Ghaziabad and other places have been raised and a few registers have been seized.

Senior police officers said the accused even created a bank account in the name of RGSM to receive funds and later diverted them to other accounts or withdrew money.

The two have been booked under criminal conspiracy of a larger scam while their associates are currently on the run.