E-Paper
Mumbai man booked for cheating MEA, Congo government
The foreign regional registration office (FRRO) of Mumbai Police’s special branch-2 has registered an offence of cheating against an Andheri resident who was functioning as an honorary consultant of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in India, despite the fact that the DRC government and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had withdrawn his name from the post four years ago
The foreign regional registration office (FRRO) of Mumbai Police’s special branch-2 has registered an offence of cheating against an Andheri resident who was functioning as an honorary consultant of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in India, despite the fact that the DRC government and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had withdrawn his name from the post four years ago.
The accused, Amit Agarwal, allegedly misused the position of honorary consultant of DRC for four years and cheated the governments of the two countries, the police said.
DRC officials, through an email, requested FRRO to initiate appropriate action against Agarwal so that he does not cheat any person by misusing the said post. Police inspector Ravindra Katkar, on behalf of FRRO, recently filed a criminal complaint against Agarwal at Azad Maidan police station. Acting on the complaint, the FRRO in a preliminary inquiry, found a cognisable offense and registered a first information report (FIR) against Agarwal a few days ago.
Katkar stated in the complaint that Kasongo Musenga, the first advocate for the DRC government in India, in an email dated May 21 to FRRO informed that the authority concerned of DRC government on September 27, 2017, had requested MEA to withdraw Agarwal’s appointment from the honorary consultant post.
MEA approved the request on October 30, 2017. Following this, DRC’s advocate in India informed Agarwal about the withdrawal of his appointment on December 4, 2017, and also requested him to stop using the post with immediate effect.
However, despite this, Agarwal kept on misusing the post and allegedly enjoyed many privileges and took direct and indirect benefits by attending government and social functions and contacting organisations under the state and Central governments, the FRRO officer stated in the complaint.
“Agarwal has been booked under sections 419 (cheating by impersonation) and 420 (cheating) of Indian Penal Code. The investigators may soon summon him for questioning,” said an officer from Azad Maidan police.
