Lucknow: After five months of hustle, the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force has managed to arrest Ranjan Mishra from Jharkhand, who duped senior government officials, contractors and politicians.
On Feb 2020, Ranjan Mishra posed himself as a top UP government official and demanded Rs 80 lakh from a project manager in the public works department. On checking, it was found that the bank account given by him, in which money was to be deposited, belongs to someone who is living in Buxar district of Bihar.
Following which, an FIR was lodged by the project manager Rajmani at Sushan golf city police station in Lucknow.
The STF tracked the account holder and found that it was Mishra who controlled it. The police first arrested Sunil Gautam and Ganesh Tiwari from Buxar. Their interrogation revealed that it was an elaborate plan to dupe contractors and builders spread across the country.
Investigation revealed that in 2008, Mishra posed himself as then chief minister of Jharkhand Madhu Koda and called a junior minister. He said Rs 40 lakh should be immediately transferred to a bank account in Bihar's Jahanabad district. The minister immediately transferred the money and later realised he has been duped.
Likewise in 2010 and 2011 also, he identified himself as Patna district magistrate to collect money from several sub-divisional magistrates. He threatened them to deposit Rs 10 lakh each failing which strict action will be taken against them.
More than a dozen cases have been registered against the accused and his associates in Jharkhand, Bihar, New Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
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