Conman Dials 28 BJP MLAs Promising Ministerial Berths In Maharashtra Govt, Arrested

A Gujarat man contacted 28 BJP MLAs while promising them ministerial berths in the Eknath Shinde government. He successfully conned 3 of them and was finally arrested from Nagpur.

Representative Image: Gujarat Man Dials 28 BJP MLAs With Promise Of Ministerial Berths In Shinde Govt, Cons 3, Arrested

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Maharashtra Police arrested a man from Nagpur for allegedly taking money from three BJP MLAs in the state against the promise of giving ministerial berths to the Eknath Shinde-led government. Neeraj Singh Rathod, a resident of the Morbi district in Gujarat's Ahmedabad was taken into custody on Tuesday before he was brought to Nagpur. Last year he was arrested by the Delhi police in a case similar to this, news agency PTI reported a senior official as informing on Saturday.

The police official further said that over the period of the past three months, Rathod got in touch with around 28 MLAs from Maharashtra, West Bengal, Haryana, Jharkhand, and Delhi offering them ministerial berths for money and managed to con three of them.

The accused had called up the MLAs while posing as the personal assistant to BJP National President J P Nadda. During the conversation, he also lied to his targets that the senior BJP leader would be joining the call, but it was Rathod speaking in a different voice, the official said.

He was arrested earlier in Delhi based on a complaint from a BJP legislator who was offered a role linked with the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, which is the Centre's flagship housing scheme. He eventually got bail in January this year.

Police lodged a complaint against him under Section 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), and 511 (punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonments) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

An official while talking to PTI said that he has also been charged under section 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy). The official further added that during the preliminary probe, the police found that the owner of a mobile shop located near Rathod's house received money online.