E-Paper
Man loses ₹40L to get ‘woodwork contract’ at Legislature Library
The complainant, Raju Gupta from Mahanagar, told police that the fraudster, who identified himself as Pravesh Kumar Mishra, claimed to be a review officer at the library.
A contractor was scammed of ₹40 lakh by a man who claimed that he could get him the contract for woodwork project worth ₹5 crore at Uttar Pradesh Legislature Library, police said.
The complainant, Raju Gupta from Mahanagar, told police that the fraudster, who identified himself as Pravesh Kumar Mishra, claimed to be a review officer at the library.
“Pravesh used to visit my tea shop (in Gol Market) very often and talk about his connections in the UP Assembly. He also claimed to be a relative of former assembly speaker and current leader of opposition Mata Prasad Pandey,” the complainant was quoted as saying in the FIR.
Gupta said Pravesh conned him into believing that he could get the former and his brother-in-law a contract of woodworks worth crores of rupees in the library in return for ₹40 lakh as commission.
“I and my brother-in-law Veeru were told to pay the amount in advance... We transferred the sum in various tranches to Pravesh.”
After a long time, the duo found that such a contract didn’t exist and Pravesh had cheated them by fabricating documents. “We deposited some cheques given back by Pravesh to us; they were dishonoured.”
Pravesh also allegedly threatened to kill them when they repeatedly asked him to pay them back.
