Probing conman Sherpuria link, ED raids firm run by former NDTV CEO, freezes fixed deposits

The company is founded and managed by Saurav Banerjee, former Co-CEO and CFO of NDTV Group, and is being probed by the ED for allegedly parking Sherpuria’s funds.

Sherpuria was arrested by the Special Task Force of the Uttar Pradesh Police late last month for allegedly faking his access to the Prime Minister’s Office and fraudulently “misusing” the PM’s name for personal gain.

“Sherpuria received money from a number of businessmen in various forms on the promise of helping them with issues related to the government. These funds have been parked in various companies. One of these is MyySports. We have frozen two separate FDs of the company to ensure the funds are not diverted until the investigation is complete,” an ED official said.

Banerjee was unavailable for comment.

When contacted, a spokesperson for MyySports Pvt Ltd, claimed that the company was unaware of the alleged conman’s antecedents and was “shocked and surprised” at Sherpuria’s arrest.

“Sherpuria’s family invested Rs 3.50 cr on the same terms as other investors in the latest round of funding in February 2023,” the spokesperson told The Indian Express. “Against the said investment, Compulsorily Convertible Preference Shares were allotted to the investors, including to Sherpuria’s family, on an arm’s length basis. The price at which the shares have been allotted to Sherpuria’s family is the same as that of shares allotted to other investors.”

Claiming that the company was co-operating with the investigation, the spokesperson added: “None of the directors or officers of the Company had any knowledge of any allegations now being made against Sherpuria. The company has no other dealings with him other than this investment.”

According to the company, MyySports is engaged in the business of building, maintaining, running, and distributing global digital platforms and multimedia content.

According to documents filed with Registrar of Companies, MyySports was incorporated in December 2020 with an authorized capital of Rs 14 lakh and paid up capital of Rs 8.54 lakh. It has six directors apart from Banerjee holding the position of managing director of the company.

Sherpuria was arrested by UP STF last month for allegedly duping businessmen by claiming a connection with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Cabinet ministers. The UP STF action was taken on a reference from ED which first began probing the man.

As reported by The Indian Express earlier, Sherpuria has had wide-ranging connections within the ruling dispensation: his books have been released by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. J&K LG Manoj Sinha has revealed in his 2019 election affidavit that he has received Rs 25 lakh from him as an unsecured loan.

In December last year, the Centre’s Ministry of Fisheries, Dairying and Animal Husbandry approved a grant of Rs 2 crore to his NGO, Youth Rural Entrepreneur Foundation (YREF), for a Rashtriya Gokul Mission project.

YREF, sources in ED said, was a key entity under probe by the agency. The Indian Express found that the NGO has retired IAS, IPS and armed forces’ officers on its advisory board.

While one retired IAS officer in the advisory board is connected with Kiran Patel, a conman who was arrested more than a month back in Srinagar, another advisory board member who was an IPS officer, was embroiled in the 2018 CBI vs CBI battle.