A 42-year-old man from Ahmedabad, identified as Ritesh Joshi, has been arrested by Kutch Police for allegedly impersonating influential figures to extort money. The arrest followed a complaint filed after Joshi attempted to solicit funds, claiming they were needed for the Ganesha festival while pretending to be Kutch MP Vinod Chavda.
Joshi, who runs a paan shop in Ahmedabad’s Bapunagar area, was taken into custody after a complaint was lodged at the B Division police station in Gandhidham on September 9. According to officials, the complainant, Prabhakar, received a call from Joshi, who posed as MP Chavda, requesting a transfer of Rs15,000 to a cooperative bank account. After complying, Prabhakar later discovered that the phone number did not belong to Chavda.
This isn’t Joshi’s first offense; he had previously faced three charges at Anjar police station in 2021 for similar scams while impersonating Chavda.
In another instance, Joshi contacted Avnish Tripathi, an employee at a private company, under the guise of Chavda, asking for the owner’s phone number. He claimed the company needed to donate Rs5 lakh for COVID-19 ration kits. After Tripathi alerted his superiors, they called back the number and were convinced of its authenticity. They subsequently transferred funds, with Joshi making two additional calls to extract another Rs2 lakh before the scam was uncovered.
Kutch Superintendent of Police Sagar Bagmar stated, “This individual defrauded victims by using a phone number similar to that of the influential person, gaining their trust.” A case has been registered, and investigations are ongoing.
