Mumbai: The sessions court has refused to grant bail to a businessman from Mira Road, arrested for cheating another businessman of Rs 8.74 lakh on the pretext of helping him clear a tender issued by the Delhi government. The accused had claimed that he had a close relationship with the Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and offered to help the complainant.
The accused, Sunny Bhadri Gupta alias Manish Singh alias Fauji, 39, had cheated the complainant by pretending that he had a close relationship with Gupta and also pretended to have called her and spoken to her.
The complainant met the Gupta in March at an event organised by their common friend at a house in Andheri. The complainant stated that during the conversation, he mentioned that the Delhi tourism department had issued a tender for print media and he had applied for the same. Gupta offered to help him by arranging a meeting.
On March 26, the complainant met Gupta at the footpath outside Trident Hotel. Gupta during the meeting told the complainant that he would have to spend Rs 5-6 lakh as he’ll have to buy gifts such as gold jewellery, expensive clothes etc. To assure him, the prosecution claimed that Gupta also made a call and discussed the tender with him.
On March 31, the complainant travelled to Delhi. However, when they tried to contact Gupta, he did not respond. After returning to Mumbai, the complainant asked Gupta to return his money but was allegedly threatened.
Gupta claimed he had not received any funds directly and the money was paid to buy gifts online. The court, however, refused to accept his defence and his bail plea and stated that the offence is serious and the amount is not yet recovered.
