A Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (earlier Aurangabad) resident was arrested by the Marine Drive police for posing as Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis‘ Officer on Special Duty (OSD). He extorted Rs 3.5 crore from a civil contractor in the name of paying a private contractor’s outstanding Public Works Department (PWD) bills of Rs 50 crore. The accused, identified as 40-year-old Asif Ismail Pathan, continued to demand an additional Rs 75 lakh in cash, reported The Times of India.
He was brought before the court and placed under police custody until 6th November. The authorities stated they are searching for his accomplices, trying to recover the amount, and retrieve the car that was used in the crime. According to them, he and his aides have used a similar strategy to defraud a few other people.
Ranjitsingh Oberoi of Oberoi Construction from Akola submitted a complaint last month, charging that Pathan took Rs 3.5 crore while pretending to be a senior ministry official and under the guise of clearing his company’s remaining PWD bills. Oberoi disclosed that he was later connected with another individual who claimed to have the final authority in approving these bills.
He managed Rs 1.25 crore from his hotel establishment, construction company and friends due to serious concern for financial damage and the potential downfall of his business. On 10th September, he travelled to Mumbai and presented the amount through an associate outside Hotel Trident at Nariman Point. The latter masqueraded as the caller’s bodyguard.
On 15th September, the accused asked for the remaining amount and received Rs 2 crore via the same person, who showed up in a Toyota Innova with the license plate MH20 HB 5666. Oberoi added that the caller pressed for an extra Rs 75 lakh and declared that the Rs 3.25 crore would be lost and the outstanding invoices wouldn’t be settled if his demand were not met.
Oberoi then found that another contractor had gotten a similar call regarding unpaid bills and realised that the caller’s mobile number did not belong to Vidyadhar Mahale, the real OSD, and the person he had met was not a government official either, after he went to Mantralaya on 30th September.
The Marine Drive police filed a First Information Report (FIR) under the provisions pertaining to impersonation, extortion, criminal intimidation, and criminal conspiracy of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against an unidentified individual based on his complaint.
