The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday filed a chargesheet against conman Sanjay Prakash Rai alias Sanjay Sherpuria, who duped people of lakhs of money by claiming that he had connections with top-ranking bureaucrats and politicians. The Patiala House Court in New Delhi has taken cognizance of the chargesheet.
The ED had initiated a money laundering investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by Lucknow Police in a cheating and forgery case.
“ED investigation revealed that Sanjay Prakash Rai duped businessman Gaurav Dalmia and his family to the tune of Rs 12 crore by showing him fear of his arrest in an ongoing investigation conducted by ED… of the said Rs 12 crore, Rs 6 crore (was) received in the bank account of Youth Rural Entrepreneur Foundation (YREF) in January 2023 from Dalmia Family Office Trust, wherein Gaurav Dalmia is trustee,” stated a complaint by the ED, The Indian Express reported.
Also Read: Enforcement Directorate searches Hero MotoCorp Chairman Pawan Munjal’s Delhi residence
“In addition, a sum of Rs 6 crore (was) received in cash by Sanjay Prakash Rai from Gaurav Dalmia which was subsequently layered and placed in the bank accounts of his sons Yash Sanjayprakash Rai and Sujal Sanjayprakash Rai in the form of accommodation entries from certain Delhi based jewellers in the garb of sale of old jewellery,” it added.
The cases in which Dalmia sought help from Sherpuria pertained to a real estate project he was developing in Ghaziabad in partnership with another company and an alleged forex violations case, sources were quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
The agency has filed another prosecution complaint against Sherpuria’s associate Mohammed Kashif.
Also Read: Tamil Nadu: Another DMK minister in ED net, agency raids premises linked to Ponmudy and his MP son
Sherpuria was arrested by UP Special Task Force (STF) in April for fraudulently “misusing” the PM’s name for personal gain and allegedly faking access to the PMO and Cabinet Ministers to allegedly dupe businessmen. The UP STF action had been taken on a reference from ED which first began probing him.
The ED conducted search operations at 42 locations in New Delhi, Gurugram, Faridabad, Noida, Ghazipur, Pune and Gandhidham. Rai was arrested by ED and was in ED custody from June 3 to June 16.
According to ED, its probe has revealed that Sherpuria cheated several other persons and duped them to the tune of over Rs 2.51 crore by portraying himself close to VIPs.
