Man claiming Union minister's schoolmate held for cheating

A man claiming to be a schoolmate of a Union minister was arrested Sunday at Matunga in central Mumbai for allegedly duping an environment consultant of Rs 1.5 lakh under the pretext of helping him land a business contract under a government initiative, police said.

The accused, identified as Jyotikumar Agrawal, claimed that he was the schoolmate of Railways Minister Piyush Goyal, a senior police officer said.

Agrawal, 50, allegedly duped the city-based environment consultant Manish Patel under the pretext of offering him a business contract under the SATAT scheme of the Union government.

SATAT or Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation initiative is touted as a developmental effort by the government that would benefit both vehicle-users as well as farmers and entrepreneurs.

"Between September 18 and January 19, 2019, Agrawal visited Patel's office and took Rs 1.5 lakh under the pretext of gifts in the name of Railways Minister Piyush Goyal," said senior inspector, Matunga police station, Bharat Mohite.

He said the accused told Patel that he was the schoolmate of the Union minister.

After realising that he was taken for a ride, Patel lodged a complaint at Matunga police station.

Further investigation is underway.