STF arrests conman for faking access to PMO

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New Delhi, April 29

“High-profile” fraudster Sanjay Prakash Rai ‘Sherpuria’, who used photos of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Ministers to flaunt his connections to dupe people, was arrested in Kanpur by Uttar Pradesh Police’s Special Task Force (STF) following an input it received from the Intelligence Bureau (IB), sources said today.

Had GIVEN Rs 25 lakh loan to J&K l-G

• Fraudster Sanjay Prakash Rai had lent an ‘unsecured loan’ to the tune of Rs 25 lakh to J&K L-G Manoj Sinha before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections
• Sinha had mentioned the loan amount in his affidavit, which he had submitted with the EC as a candidate from the Ghazipur seat

In the meantime, it appeared that Rai had established contacts with BJP leaders in eastern UP’s Ghazipur and Varanasi districts, as it was found that he had lent “unsecured loan” to the tune of Rs 25 lakh to Jammu and Kashmir L-G Manoj Sinha before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Sinha had declared and mentioned the loan amount in his affidavit, which he had submitted with the Election Commission as a candidate from the Ghazipur parliamentary constituency, which he had lost to BSP contender Afzal Ansari.

Denying having any contact with Rai since 2015, sources close to Sinha said, “Since then, several attempts were made to contact him and return the loan amount, but so far he remained unavailable.”

Sources in the STF said that since there was no formal complaint from any of his victims, STF Inspector Sachin Kumar stepped in and filed a case in a Lucknow police station against Rai on April 25.

In the FIR, the Inspector has alleged that for several years, Rai has been accumulating money through fraud and cheating. It is also mentioned that Rai has been the director of several companies that have defaulted on bank payments.