By Our Staff Reporter
Haridwar, 17 Feb: A person posing as Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s son demanded Rs 5 lakhs from the BJP MLA from Ranipur (Haridwar) Adesh Chauhan over the phone. Following this, the Haridwar police have registered a case against unknown persons under various sections, including fraud. The police are currently investigating the matter.
According to the police, Haridwar Ranipur MLA Adesh Chauhan’s PRO, Romish Kumar lodged a written complaint stating that a person from an unknown number called up the MLA yesterday. The caller introduced himself as Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s son, Jay Shah, and discussed political subjects. He claimed that due to a busy schedule in Delhi and Manipur, his father had authorised BJP National President JP Nadda’s son, Harish Nadda, to take decisions on matters related to Uttarakhand. He requested cooperation for the party fund, asking the MLA to arrange an amount of Rs 5 lakhs and come to Delhi by evening to meet the Home Minister Amit Shah and the National BJP President, JP Nadda.
The caller provided another number to Chauhan, claiming it was the secretary’s contact. The next day, the MLA somehow managed to contact Harish Nadda, and during his conversation with him, it was revealed that no attempt had been made on behalf of Nadda to contact Adesh Chauhan for money. Chauhan then realised that that an attempt had been made to defraud him. When the MLA received another call and mentioned to the caller that the call was a fraud, the caller demanded Rs 5 lakhs, otherwise he would spread false propaganda on social media.
Chauhan then contacted the Police, sharing that he had received the call at around 12:30 midnight on 13-14 February. Initially, he thought it might be an urgent matter, so he answered the call, which lasted for 22 minutes. The caller, introducing himself as Jay Shah, discussed various topics, including the Manipur and Delhi elections and the Uttarakhand National Games. The caller then instructed the MLA to reach Delhi the next evening to meet the Union Home Minister.
The next day, the MLA received several calls, raising his suspicion. He then contacted Harish Nadda to confirm, who said that Jay Shah did not have such a number. Despite this, the caller kept insisting on a donation. Chauhan noted that it never has been a tradition in the BJP to demand money like this.
He, however, reached Delhi, and during this time, he continued to receive the calls. When he informed the caller that he had spoken to Harish Nadda, the caller disconnected. Soon after, another call demanded Rs 5 lakh to prevent false propaganda on social media.
Haridwar SSP Pramendra Singh Dobhal shared with the media that a case has been registered, and an investigation has begun. The incident occurred late night on 14 February, and a complaint was filed by the MLA’s PRO, Romesh Kumar. A case has been registered under Section 308 (2) of BNS at Bahadarabad police station in Haridwar. The investigation is ongoing.
