Bengaluru : Swaminathan Sankar, who manages commercial endorsements for former cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, was cheated by fraudsters in the name of special darshan of Tirupati temple, police sources said. The miscreant allegedly cheated Sankar by introducing himself as a PA to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Based on a complaint filed by Sankar, an FIR has been registered at the HSR Layout Police Station here in Bengaluru City.
According to the FIR, in October last year, Swaminathan Sankar was called by an unknown person who introduced himself as 'Nakul, an assistant to the finance minister'. Also, he said that a judge's son named Sandeep wanted to meet Dhoni. Accordingly, on October 29, Sandeep and another person named Salman met Dhoni at a hotel.
At that time, Sandeep, who introduced himself as a judge's son, said that he will arrange for a special darshan of Lord Venkateswara of Tirupati whenever they want. After that, on November 30, Sandeep called the complainant Sankar, when he was in Dubai and told him that 12 people will be given pass for special darshan at Tirupati.
Then Sankar told Sandeep to approach someone else. But Sandeep said that it was a protocol letter and it may be referred to someone known to Sankar. Then Sankar called his friend Vineet Chandrasekhar, who runs a school in Kudlugate, and informed about Tirupati darshan. Then another person Nageshwar Rao called and told Vineet to pay Rs 3 lakh for the expenses of special darshan room etc.
Later, Vineeth Chandrasekhar has paid Rs 3 lakh via Google Pay. A total of Rs 6.33 lakh was transferred online. However, they did not get Tirupati special darshan. Then they realised it was a case of cheating. Based on Sankar's complaint, the police began investigation.
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