Fraudster posing as Amit Shah's secretary caught at BJP headquarters

NEW DELHI: A fraudster posing as secretary to BJP chief Amit Shah was caught striking a deal with some workers at the party’s headquarters here on Tuesday.

The man, aged around 30-35 years, who gave his name as Kuldeep Yadav used to operate under various aliases. He used to dupe party workers, mostly from the northeast, by taking money — ranging from Rs 50,000 to a few lakhs — with the promise that he will get them important party posts. Party sources said he would give his name as Kuldeep — the name of BJP general secretary (organisation) or as Rakesh Mishra (the name of Shah’s secretary) — to unsuspecting party workers.

The fraudster had even got notepads made with his name on them, depicting him as secretary to Shah. Police are looking into his call records to find out who among the party workers were in touch with him for favours. The party is also interested in knowing the list of BJP workers who were in contact with the fraudster. “He would usually catch BJP workers from the northeast who are not fluent in Hindi. He would tell them that he had already taken up their case with Shah or Ram Lal and that they would be made office-bearers in their respective state units. He would then charge them various amounts of money,” a party source said.

The man was caught at the party headquarters when two men from Nagaland came looking for him. A member of the office staff used their phone to call him and he was caught by party workers. Yadav was being interrogated by Delhi police till going to the press. Two of his accomplices managed to escape, sources said.

On Mondays — the day set aside by Shah to meet party workers and supporters at the headquarters — he would get in touch with some of the visitors and dupe them. “He would find a vulnerable target and take the person aside. He would assure them that their work would be done. At times, he used some of the rooms at the headquarters for a brief meeting with such workers,” the source said. He has reportedly duped a party worker from Nagaland of Rs 60,000 and a few others of higher amounts.