BHOPAL: Police busted an interstate racket which used to dupe anganwadi workers in the name of transfer and promotion on Thursday. The kingpin introduced himself as OSD to the women and child development minister to win the confidence of the anganwadi workers.
Bhopal police arrested the kingpin and his accomplice and seized three mobile phones, four SIMs, one laptop and Rs 3 lakh in cash from their possession.
SHO, Habibganj Rakesh Shrivastava informed that they had received a complaint from the OSD to minister and former joint director of women and child development Mahendra Singh Dewedi.
In the complaint it was alleged that someone posing as a joint director Mahendra Singh Dewedi in Anuppur was asking for money from the anganwadi workers for their promotion and transfer.
During the investigation the police found that one Mahendra Kumar Tiwari, a resident of Rewa, was making calls to the workers posing as ministerís OSD and collecting money.
The police arrested the accused and found that one of his aides Ankit Mishra, resident of Allahabad Uttar Pradesh, arranged for the SIMs and also the bank accounts in which the money was parked.
Tiwari used to send the forms of promotion and transfer to the anganwadi workers on their mobile phones. When he was able to win their confidence, he would ask them to deposit the money in his account. As soon as the money was transferred, he used to throw the SIM and change his location.
Earlier, in Chhattisgarhís Balodabazar, Tiwari posed as Ashok Pandey and collected around Rs 1 crore from the anganwadi workers in the name of transfer and promotion.
Bhopal police have registered a case and shared information to the Chhattisgarh police about the arrest.
