Man who duped MLAs in Maha on promise of cabinet berth being brought to Nagpur from Gujarat

The man from Gujarats Ahmedabad arrested for allegedly taking money from three MLAs in Maharashtra on the promise of ministerial berths in the Eknath Shinde-led state government is being brought to Nagpur by the police for further action, a senior official said on Wednesday.

The man from Gujarat's Ahmedabad arrested for allegedly taking money from three MLAs in Maharashtra on the promise of ministerial berths in the Eknath Shinde-led state government is being brought to Nagpur by the police for further action, a senior official said on Wednesday. Three Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs from Maharashtra paid money to the fraudster, who made phone calls to them by posing as party chief J P Nadda and offered to give them ministerial berths in the state government in exchange of money, he said. The accused, identified as Neeraj Singh Rathod, is a resident of Morbi in Ahmedabad district. He was arrested by the Nagpur police from his residence on Tuesday. Following his arrest, he is being brought to Nagpur and they are likely to arrive on Thursday, the police official said. ''The fraudster made phone calls to these MLAs by posing as BJP chief J P Nadda and offered to give them ministerial berths. Besides them, he contacted one more legislator from Maharashtra and one each in Goa and Nagaland,'' he added.

An offence under Sections 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), and 511 (punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered against Rathod at Tehsil police station in Nagpur, he said.

The accused was also charged under section 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), he said, adding that during the preliminary probe, the police found that the owner of a mobile shop located near Rathod's house received money online.

Notably, following the Supreme Court's ruling on issues related to the June 2022 split in the Shiv Sena, which gave a reprieve to the Eknath Shinde government, there was a buzz that a cabinet expansion could happen soon.