Man arrested for duping 6 people of Rs 15 cr by posing as ministry official

A 49-year-old man arrested for allegedly posing as Union Health Ministry official and duping 6 people of Rs 15 crore on pretext of providing work orders for Covid vaccine transportation, police said

A 49-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly posing as a senior Union Health Ministry official and duping six people of Rs 15 crore on the pretext of providing work orders for Covid vaccine transportation, police said on Thursday.

Umesh Batra (49) was arrested by the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police. Batra used to work for a construction company but his financial situation took a hit during the lockdown and he resorted to cheating people after joining hands with the kingpin behind the scam Harmenn Sabherwal, Govind Tulshyan and three other people, all of whom have been arrested, they said.

Police said a probe was initiated after several complaints were received from people who claimed to have been duped of Rs 3-4 crore on the pretext of providing work orders for transportation of Covid vaccines.

After a preliminary enquiry, a case was registered and an investigation taken up. Six complainants came forward and the total amount they were duped off came out to be Rs 15 crore, they said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (EOW) M I Haidar said the investigation revealed that in May 2021, the accused contacted the complainants and offered them work orders from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for transportation of Covid vaccines.

"To gain their trust, the accused took the victims to the ministry, which is located on the premises of Nirman Bhavan. They posed as officers of the ministry and obtained signatures of the complainants on forged work orders. In lieu of those fake work orders, they received Rs 15 crore from the complainants," he said.

Analysis of bank accounts and other details of the accused revealed huge cash deposits, Haidar added.

"Batra used to pose as an officer of the Ministry of Health who worked from a conference room. He was roped in by another accused, Prafulla Kumar Nayak. Batra was absconding from his home, and continuous raids and searches were being conducted to trace and arrest him," he said.

On December 21, Batra surrendered before a Delhi court and he was arrested, the officer added.

Batra disclosed that Vinod Kumar Sharma and Vinay Gupta too used to pose as officers of the ministry, he said.