Man arrested for duping over 2,000 people by using pics of PM, govt dept

A man was arrested for allegedly using pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a government department to promote his organisation and duping over 2,000 people to the tune of over Rs 3 crore on the pretext of providing cheap houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, police said Thursday.

The accused has been identified as Rajinder Kumar Tripathi, 57, a resident of Faridabad, they said.

Tripathi also duped four other advertising companies to the tune of Rs 1 crore on the pretext of inviting tenders for organising Rashtriya Awas Divas for promotion of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, police said.

According to officials, they received a complaint from the Ministry Of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation where they alleged that the chairman of the National Housing Development Organisation (NHDO) was unauthorisedly publishing official photographs of the government departments on its website to promote his organisation with malafide intention.

The accused used picture of the prime minister and logo of the Ministry Of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation to promote his organisation and dupe people on the pretension that NHDO was a government organisation under the ministry, police said.

The complainant further alleged that the ministry had received a complaint along with a forged letter dated February 9, 2017, allegedly written by chairman of NHDO, in which NHDO was projected as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) formed under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, AK Singla, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) said.

Simultaneously, another complaint was also received from Goldmine Advertising Ltd regarding siphoning off the money taken by the chairman of NHDO on the pretext of inviting tenders for organising Rashtriya Awas Divas for promotion of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, the officer said.

Thereafter, three other companies also came forward with similar allegations and filed their complaints with police, the officer added.

Two bank accounts being maintained at Nehru Place branch of the Punjab National Bank was freezed, the officer said.

During interrogation, it was revealed that Tripathi moved from Gorakhpur to Delhi in 1989 and started an NGO called LIC Policy Holders Welfare Organisation for working welfare/grievances removal of LIC policy holders, Singla said.

He projected a micro credit scheme for the NGOs all over the country in 2004 and under this scheme, he had duped NGOs for providing loans for the women of rural areas, he added.