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A 45-year-old man, identified as Lakshman Pandit, was arrested by the Lucknow police Wednesday for duping Jagdutt Verma, a local businessman, of Rs 33 lakh, a laptop and two expensive cellphones in exchange for arranging a BJP ticket for the upcoming byelection from the Lucknow East Assembly seat. Pandit has also been accused of issuing life threats after Verma demanded his money back.
With inputs from the businessman, the police arrested Pandit from Kapoorthala area on charges of forgery. The police also recovered the laptop and cellphones reportedly given to him by Verma, apart from cash worth Rs 20 lakh from his possession. The currency notes carried the stamp and signature of Verma’s firm, the police said.
Station Officer of the Vikas Nagar police station, Shiv Shankar Singh, said Pandit would be produced before the court on Thursday. According to the police, the accused had purchased a plot last year at Kanpur road from Verma, who deals in real estate business.
Pandit, who started visiting Verma’s office at Vikas Nagar frequently after this, told him he had close relations with senior BJP leaders, including Amit Shah and Ram Madhav and promised to arrange an Assembly ticket for him. Verma gave him Rs 32 lakh in two instalments this month along with Rs 1 lakh for conveyance and lodging.
Footages of the transactions being made were grabbed in CCTVs installed at Verma’s office, police said. After ticket for the seat was given to another person, Verma said he demanded his money back, but Pandit started threatening him with dire consequences.
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