Pune: The Nashik Trimbakeshwar Kumbh Mela Authority (NTKMA) will launch an awareness drive among contractors, cautioning them against unscrupulous elements who allegedly seek to deceive them by offering work for Kumbh Mela projects through fake work orders, officials said on Sunday.
The move follows the detection of eight bogus work orders, with two cases coming to light in April and six more uncovered earlier this week. “Contractors participating in the bidding process are aware of how genuine work orders are issued. Nevertheless, we will create awareness and advise them to mandatorily verify the details of any work order offered to them,” NTKMA commissioner Sekhar Singh.
He said genuine work orders carry a QR code that directs users to the authority’s official website, where details of the tender and awarded bids can be verified. Meanwhile, the Nashik city police investigation into the six latest fake work orders revealed that the accused allegedly prepared the documents at a computer centre in Jamner, Jalgaon district.
Deputy commissioner (crime) Kirankumar Chavan said six members of the gang have been arrested and booked under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita at Nashik Road police station.
{{/usCountry}}Deputy commissioner (crime) Kirankumar Chavan said six members of the gang have been arrested and booked under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita at Nashik Road police station.
{{/usCountry}}According to the police, the accused allegedly obtained the bogus documents from the computer operator for a nominal payment and later affixed a purported digital signature of NTKMA chairman Praveen Gedam.
The crime branch initially arrested two accused, including Tanay Mahajan, a distant relative of Kumbh Mela minister Girish Mahajan, before arresting four others. Police said the gang allegedly sold the six fake work orders to three contractors for more than ₹3 crore, claiming they had won the tenders and that the contractors could execute the projects and receive payments from the authority.
Police said the contractors should have verified the work orders before making payments. In a statement on Sunday, Nashik city police said no government official or agency was involved in the fraud and that the complaints involved private entities. Kumbh Mela minister Girish Mahajan, meanwhile, said Tanay Mahajan was a distant relative whom he had not met for a long time and that his association with the accused could not make him responsible for the latter’s actions.