A man from Bihar's Siwan district was arrested for allegedly cheating a villager in Gujarat's Bharuch to a tune of whopping Rs 1.7 crore in the name of popular television quiz game show 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' (KBC), police said today.
Shambhunath Gorakhnath Maji, who belongs to Basantpur village in Bihar's Siwan district, was nabbed in his hometown on December 27 and was handed over to Gujarat police for allegedly duping a farmer from Jambusar taluka in Bharuch, Ratansingh Raj of Rs 1.7 crore, Bharuch Superintendent of Police Bipin Ahire said.
According to the complaint filed by Raj with Jambusar police station nearly 10 days ago, Raj had received the first call from Maji on November 27, 2013, claiming that he is calling on behalf of KBC and that he has won a lottery of Rs 35 crore. In order to get the cash prize, he has to deposit tax amount in bank accounts, Ahire said.
Believing the call as genuine, Raj somehow managed to deposit Rs 1.7 crore in accounts over a period of couple of months and even sold his farm land, Ahire said, adding, it is being investigated that in how many accounts the money was deposited.
He said when the villager did not get any response from Maji, aged around 35 years, he tried to contact him over his mobile phone, which was switched off.
Later, a complaint was filed and police in Bihar was alerted, following which he was caught at a bank when he gone to withdraw money three days back, the SP said.
Jambusar police after taking Maji into their custody, produced him before the local court yesterday which remanded him to 10 days police custody, the SP said.
Ahire said, "It is suspected that Maji may have links with gangs who have conned people in a similar manner in Delhi and Maharashtra.
