A fraudster, who introduced himself as the PA of a senior BJP functionary, allegedly tried to dupe Madhya Pradesh Cabinet Minister Ramniwas Rawat over the phone by demanding Rs 5 lakh each for some persons to help the minister win in the upcoming assembly by-election for the Vijaypur seat of Madhya Pradesh.

However, the minister grew suspicious and verified the matter with the office of the BJP functionary, which informed him that no such call had been made.

Advertisement

Subsequently, the minister lodged a complaint with the police. Acting on the complaint, the Crime Branch of the MP Police arrested one person, identified as Rajendra Verma (60) from Jalaun in Uttar Pradesh, in connection with the case.

According to the information, the fraudster had called on Rawat’s mobile number several times. He introduced himself as the PA of BJP National General Secretary D Santosh. He told Rawat that he would arrange five to six persons to help him win the assembly by-election in Vijaypur. The caller demanded Rs 5 lakh for each person.

The caller also made Rawat speak to another person, who claimed to be BJP national general secretary D Santosh.

However, Rawat grew suspicious when he realised that the BJP national general secretary is B L Santosh, not D Santosh. He then verified the matter with the BJP functionary’s office and was assured that no such call had been made from there.

On Rawat’s complaint, the Crime Branch of the police investigated the matter and arrested the accused, Rajendra Verma, on Saturday.

Ramniwas Rawat is the Cabinet Minister for Forests in MP. He was a six-time Congress MLA from the Vijaypur seat of MP but quit the Congress to join the BJP during the Lok Sabha campaign.

He was recently inducted into the Cabinet of MP CM Dr Mohan Yadav. After joining the BJP, Rawat resigned from his Congress MLA membership, and he now faces an Assembly by-election for the Vijaypur seat on the BJP ticket.