What emboldens conmen to take make a mockery of the system so freely? Days after Kiran Patel, who posed as a senior official at the Prime Minister’s Office, was arrested in Jammu and Kashmir, another scam has stumbled out of the PM’s closet.
A team of Uttar Pradesh’s Special Task Force has arrested Sanjay Prakash Rai for allegedly defrauding people by convincing them of his proximity with ruling party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Unsurprisingly, people bought into his stories — social media is awash with pictures of Rai posing with senior politicians, including RSS supremo Mohan Bhagwat and Union Minister Anurag Thakur.
“His (Sanjay Rai) main task was to extort money by showing people his access to the government and big officials, besides money laundering, hawala and tax evasion,” an excerpt of the complaint in the FIR, published by a media house, read.
Investigations reveal that during an ISRO ceremony, Rai signed an agreement with the Indian Technology Congress Association (ITCA) to build a satellite. In 2022, ISRO organised a programme in Ahmedabad. Rai’s Youth Rural Entrepreneur Foundation signed an MoU with the ITCA at a function held in Bhopal. In the presence of Prime Minister Modi, Rai committed to producing 75 nanosatellites for Gujarat, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh. Leaning into the world of space, he reportedly diverted Rs 350 crores in the name of Kandla Energy and Chemical Gujarat Limited.
On this occasion, ISRO, in the presence of many political personalities, including the PM, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Rai decided to build a satellite with 75 students from various schools, colleges, and university campuses.
Rai boasted that the nanosatellite would be built for education. A nanosatellite is likely to cost around two crores.
Nanosatellites will be made under Azadi Ka Amrit Mohotsav, the Government of India’s initiative to celebrate and commemorate 75 years of independence. In this project, students themselves will be able to build their satellite and launch it into space.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that Rai’s illegal businesses are spread across UP, Delhi, and Gujarat. He could be facing trial for cases of non-payment of loans.
It’s reported that he first came under the scanner of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) when Rs 6 crore was transferred to a bank account of a foundation he promoted. Apparently, he registered a private company using a fake name of a director and promoted himself as the organisation’s main executive.
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