 "How a 25-year-old ex-cricketer duped Rishabh Pant of Rs 1.63 crore")
A 25-year-old cricketer-turned-conman who pretended to be an IPS officer from Karnataka in order to stay at luxury hotels such as the Taj Palace and had also allegedly duped India's star cricketer Rishabh Pant of more than Rs 1.63 crore was apprehended at Delhi Airport and placed under arrest.
The accused, identified as Mrinank Singh, a resident of Faridabad in Haryana, was once part of the under-19 cricket for Haryana.
According to Ravi Kant Kumar, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police-I (New Delhi), a complaint was received on August 22 last year from Taj Palace Hotel alleging that a person named Mrinank Singh, who presented himself as a cricketer and stayed at their hotel for a week, eventually left without paying his bill of Rs 553,000.
"When the hotel staff asked for payment, he said his company, Adidas, would make it. He was contacted several times to clear the outstanding payments, but each time he made false statements and promises and always provided incorrect information," stated the senior officer.
Based on the hotel's complaint, a case of cheating was filed and during the investigation, a notice under section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) was sent to the address of the accused Mrinank Singh but he was not found present there.
"His father informed the police that they had evicted and disowned their son from their properties as they do not have any control over his actions," the officer said, adding efforts were made to locate the accused, but there was little success without any available leads to nab him.
Subsequently, a court issued a non-bailable warrant and a lookout circular was also issued to arrest him in case he attempted to fly out of the country or discreetly emigrate from India.
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The accused was finally detained at the Delhi Airport on December 25 while he was trying to fly to Hong Kong.
According to the official, during his detention at Delhi Airport, the conman yet again made another attempt to influence immigration officials by pretending to make phone calls to police officers posing as Alok Kumar IPS, ADGP Karnataka. However, the authorities were already aware of his antiquities at this point. He was later arrested.
'Duped multiple luxury resorts and hotels'
During interrogation, the accused admitted to defrauding multiple luxury resorts and hotels of lakhs of rupees by posing as the ADGP of Karnataka and, on several occasions, as an IPL cricketer to persuade them to stay for multiple days and then leave without clearing their dues, claiming the payment would be made later.
According to the preliminary investigation of his mobile, there are several victims of his fraud and impersonation, and the amount scammed is in the millions. His victims include hotels, bars, restaurants, young girls, cab drivers, and small eating outlets among others.
"Cricketer Rishabh Pant was also conned by him to the tune of Rs 1.63 crore in 2020-2021. Initial analysis of his mobile phone revealed his acquaintance with young female models and contains multiple videos and photographs, among which some are highly objectionable," said the police officer.
Further investigation into the case is underway.