In a major breakthrough, Rudrapur police and a Special Operations Group apprehended the third main suspect in the fraudulent scam targeting BJP MLAs in Uttarakhand. The arrest took place in Delhi and involved the suspects impersonating Jai Shah, the son of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, to extort money under the guise of offering cabinet positions in exchange for hefty sums.
On February 13, Rudrapur MLA Shiv Arora received a phone call claiming he would soon be appointed as a minister in an upcoming cabinet expansion. The caller demanded Rs3 crore in exchange for the position. Arora, suspecting foul play, immediately reported the incident to the police on February 16.
Police swiftly identified the three individuals behind the scam. Two of the suspects were already arrested—one in Rudrapur and another in Delhi—while the third, Gauravnath, was captured near Karkar Duma Court in Delhi.
According to the police investigation, the group of three—Uvaish, Priyanshu Pant, and Gauravnath—had planned the scam in order to fund their lavish lifestyles, including clubbing and drugs. They obtained MLA contact details from public sources such as Wikipedia. Their tactics also included threatening defamation if their initial scam attempts failed.
Gauravnath, one of the key figures, reportedly learned the methods for this scam while incarcerated for a prior fraud case in Delhi. The trio targeted several MLAs from states including Manipur, Odisha, Karnataka, and Uttarakhand. The investigation continues as police work to uncover the full extent of the fraud.
