FAKE LETTERHEAD OF EX-CM USED TO CON

A former UP minister and sitting MLA from Shikohabad was arrested by the Noida police on Monday and sent to judicial custody after his anticipatory bail in a cheating case was rejected by a local court. The police said he allegedly cheated a builder of Rs 5 crore. The accused, Ashok Yadav, had been using the fake letterhead of a former UP chief minister to cheat a leading builder, Rajkishore Verma, who resides in Sector 36 Noida.
Police sources said the accused surrendered after his bail application was rejected at the SDJM First Court in Noida. The next hearing is scheduled to take place on March 22. Sources claimed this is one of the rare cases in UP where a sitting independent MLA has been arrested in a cheating case.
According to the FIR lodged by Verma against politician at the Sector 39 police station, the victim had applied for 10 acre land in September 2007 for setting up an IT unit. ‘‘Soon after he filed his application with the Noida Authority, three men — co-accused Kausal Luthra, Pappu Anand and Sushil — called on Verma at his residence. They promised the builder they would guarantee a plot in the Noida Authority draw as Yadav would help him. To prove the ‘‘genuineness’’ of their offer, the three even got Verma to speak to Yadav over telephone,’’ said an investigating officer at the sector 39 police station.
However, the builder did not get to hear much from the accused for the next several days. And when he contacted them, the victim claimed, the minister had used the ‘‘letterhead’’ of the chief minister. ‘‘The letter talked of how the Noida CEO has been instructed to allot land for him in Sector 94. Verma further alleged that the minister demanded Rs 1.87 crore as commission,’’ added the officer.
The police said it was only when Verma contacted the authorities that he discovered he had been cheated. And after that he lodged a complaint with Noida police on March 13, 2008. ‘‘The probe found that the accused had been cheating the builder. The police filed a chargesheet in the case. Most of the money received from the builder changed hands at a bungalow at Sainik Farms in south Delhi,’’ claimed the sleuth.