Two Chennai-based men cheated people out of ₹25 lakh by posing as officials appointed by a Union minister to a fake anti-corruption group, according to a CBI chargesheet filed in a local court.
The accused, Reningston Sales and Vincent Raju, allegedly created a fake organisation named the “Anti Corruption and Anti Crime (ACAC) Wing” and duped victims by claiming to be its senior office bearers.
To lend a semblance of credibility to their plan, the accused duo set up fake offices in Chennai and gave a non-existent address of Paharganj in the national capital as the “head office.”
Fake letterheads
They also allegedly fabricated official-looking paraphernalia – including letterheads bearing the national emblem, rubber stamps, ID cards, and visiting cards of high-profile government functionaries.
A forged letter dated June 10, 2017, shows Union minister of state personnel Jitendra Singh notifying all state chief secretaries of the appointment of retired chief justice of India RM Lodha as the president of their dubious organisation.
The accused also prepared a forged email ID – “rmlodha.justice@gmail.com”, which they allegedly used to convince the targeted victims. CBI claimed that it got confirmation from Google that the fake email ID was linked to their IP address, and one of their phone numbers was provided as the recovery number.
Sales and Raju also allegedly forged another letter dated May 11, 2018. It claimed that the then President of India Ram Nath Kovind congratulated Justice Lodha congratulating him for accepting the position of “National President” of ACAC Wing of India.
According to CBI, the accused collected money from gullible victims by promising them to offer positions at various zonal and state offices of their fake organisation.
The name of the union minister and former President of India was used to convince targets that their organisation was a legitimate one.
Around ₹25 lakh was collected using this modus operandi and deposited in a current account in the Indian Bank in the name of the ACAC Wing of India. The account was opened in the Indian Bank by using a forged resolution of the organisation, the CBI alleged.
The accused duo, Sales and Raju, got anticipatory bail from the Delhi High Court, and now they have been summoned by the Special CBI court, which has taken cognisance of the charges against them.