The Delhi Police arrested a 25-year-old former cricketer Mrinank Singh on Monday (December 25) for allegedly defrauding multiple luxury hotels, including the Taj Palace, of lakhs of rupees. The accused, defrauded the Taj Palace in Delhi of Rs 5.5 lakh in July 2022. He also cheated cricketer Rishabh Pant of Rs 1.6 crore between the years 2020-2021.
Mrinank Singh claimed to have played for the Haryana Under-19 team and the Mumbai Indians in the India Premier League (IPL). Singh, according to police, used to cheat luxury hotels by posing as Karnataka’s Additional Director General of Police, Alok Kumar. According to Mohali senior superintendent of police (SSP) Sandeep Garg, Mrinank along with his accomplice was arrested from a club in Panchkula. The identity of the aide has not yet been revealed.
In the recent case, Vijay Singh, a Jalandhar-based travel agent, alleged that the accused, posing as an assistant director general of police, had domestic air tickets and hotel rooms booked for 5.78 lakh. Later, he visited him in Mohali, where he borrowed 50,000 rupees and promised to return it in 15 minutes. Accused Mrinank, however, escaped without returning the money.
How Mrinank Singh duped hotels
According to a complaint filed by the Taj Palace at the Chanakyapuri Police Station in Delhi in July 2022, Mrinank Singh stayed at the hotel for a week in July last year and left without paying his bill of Rs 5,53,362. When asked to pay the bill, Mrinank Singh said that Adidas, who he claimed was his sponsor, would do so.
The hotel staff proceeded to give Mrinank Singh the hotel’s bank details, and he gave them a transaction ID indicating that a payment of Rs 2 lakh had been processed. However, the hotel’s system did not record the transaction.
Mrinank and his manager, Gagan Singh, were called, and the conman informed the hotel personnel that he would send his driver to pay the outstanding amount. However, he did not make the payment, following this, a complaint was lodged against him.
Police issued a notice to Mrinank’s address during the investigation, but he could not be traced there either. Singh’s father informed the police that he and his family had disowned and expelled Mrinank Singh from their properties since they had no control over him. The authorities were unable to track Mrinank’s whereabouts since he frequently changed it, and his phone was switched off.
The police subsequently issued a non-bailable warrant against Mrinank Singh and a lookout circular was also issued to arrest him in case he tries to flee the country. Mrinank Singh was stopped by Immigration police at Delhi’s IGI Airport on December 25 while attempting to board a flight to Hong Kong.
Mrinank Singh posed as Karnataka ADGP to evade arrest
Mrinank Singh attempted to dupe the immigration authorities during his detention at the IGI Airport. He called senior police officials, posing as Alok Kumar, ADGP Karnataka, and asked for assistance in helping his son Mrinank Singh, who had been “illegally detained” at the IGI Airport. The accused, however, was turned over to the Delhi Police by immigration officers.
Mrinank Singh continually tried to deceive authorities during interrogation, claiming that his “father,” Ashok Kumar Singh, was also an international cricket player who played for the Indian cricket team from the 1980s to the late 1990s. Mrinank Singh reportedly told police that his “father” was a manager for Air India and was posted at IGI Airport.
During the questioning, conman Mrinank Singh admitted to defrauding several luxury resorts and hotels of lakhs of rupees while posing as the Karnataka ADGP. He would also claim to be a player of the Mumbai Indians from 2014 to 2018 and use it to leave hotels without paying the bills. Mrinank Singh’s targets, according to the police, included hotels, bars, restaurants, young girls, cab drivers, small eating outlets, etc.
How Mrinank Singh duped Rishabh Pant of Rs 1.6 crore
Mrinank approached Pant and his manager, Puneet Solanki, in January 2021, claiming to be in the business of buying and selling luxury watches, bags, and jewelry. He claimed to have sold the products to several other cricketers as well.
Pant believed his lies and gave the accused a luxury watch and a few other jewelry items to resell. In return, the accused gave him a 1,63,00,000 cheque in February 2021, which eventually bounced when Pant tried to cash it in.
Objectionable videos of young women, drugs, and obsession with luxury lifestyle
Upon checking the accused Mrinank Singh’s phone, police found that he had known several young female models and had multiple videos and pictures of them, including some that the police described as “highly objectionable.” The police said that by pretending to be an IPL player, Singh used to befriend models and young girls.
Mrinank Singh, according to police, had an obsession with living a luxury lifestyle that included staying in five-star hotels, partying with models and taking photos with them, and flying abroad with his girlfriends. Furthermore, the contents of his phone proved that he used to buy and consume drugs regularly.