Hisar conman tries to dupe man who bought Modi’s suit

Mangalore Today News Network

Chandigarh, March 2, 2015: A conman from Haryana allegedly made a bid to dupe Dharmanandan Diamonds, the company owned by Laljibhai Patel who won the auction for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pinstriped suit, of over 4 crore by trying to get a duplicate cheque encashed.

 

On February 20, Laljibhai’s winning bid of 4.31 core had won him the possession of the suit in a high profile auction in Surat. And the amount was to be used for the Clean Ganga campaign.

However, in a complaint filed by Dharmanandan Diamonds’ chief accountant Madhu Patel at Katargram police station in Surat, a cheque of 4.31 crore was deposited in the firm’s HDFC Bank for clearance. Police said the duplicate cheque was drawn in favour of LRC Roadways’ current bank account number 14**********61 in HDFC Bank’s Hisar branch in Haryana.

According to the Hisar police, the Hisar branch had forwarded the cheque to Katargam in Gujarat for clearance.

However, when the bank called up Laljibhai, seeking confirmation for clearing the cheque, the latter was surprised.

Later, Madhu confirmed to the bank that the cheque was bogus and asked the bank to ensure non-payment of the cheque.

Initial investigation into the matter has revealed that the cheque issued by Laljibhai to buy Modi’s suit bore the serial number ****90. However, the conman changed the last two digits to ****99.

Hisar Superintendent of Police Satender Kumar Gupta said, "A case has been registered under the IT Act in Surat. The Gujarat Police is in Hisar, and we are assisting them. The accused will be arrested soon."

The identity of the conman, however, has not been made public yet but further investigations are on.

Sources said that the cheque that Laljibhai’s firm had issued to buy the prime minister’s suit was shared on social media, from where the conman downloaded the image and used it to prepare a duplicate cheque. He then forged Laljibhai’s signature on it.

Courtesy: Indiatoday