Conmen posing as CBI sleuths duped politician in Adarsh scam

Nervousness of people accused in police cases was exploited by two fake CBI officers, arrested recently, who not only duped film personalities and policemen charged in the fake encounter case of Sohrabuddin Shaikh, but had also conned a politician involved in the Adarsh Housing Society scam.

The two conmen-– Ashwini Kumar Sharma and Rajesh Ranjan-– who were arrested by the CBI here last year for allegedly duping people, had also approached a politician accused in the Adarsh scam and promised him help in diluting the case against him in return for payment of a few lakh rupees, CBI sources said today.According to the investigating agency, the politician, who had to quit after the scam came to light, was approached by Sharma in February last year.

CBI had on January 29, 2011 registered FIR against 13 accused, including the politician, for their alleged role in the Adarsh society scam."Sharma posing as a CBI officer had approached the politician just a month after the case was registered and assured him help. Sharma told the accused he could get the charges against him diluted if some money was given to him (Sharma)," sources privy to the investigation said.

The politician, whose statement was recorded recently in the Adarsh scam, was also questioned regarding Sharma and Ranjan.

Sharma and Ranjan, who were arrested in August last year, have allegedly cheated over 200 persons including film personalities and businessmen. According to the agency, the accused have been cheating people since 2005 by posing as CBI officers.

The two had allegedly also duped senior policemen arrested in the fake encounter case of Sohrabuddin Shaikh in Gujarat."In order to impress their victims, the duo (Sharma and Ranjan) had rented office spaces in Gujarat and Mumbai and had appointed few people as clerks and sub-ordinates. Soon after their arrest, we had seized several computers and fake documents similar to FIRs and inquiry reports from their office in Worli here," a CBI official said.

The duo's luck however ran out when they approached film producer Rakesh Roshan seeking money to settle a civil matter the filmmaker was embroiled in. Roshan allegedly paid a huge amount to the conmen and then approached the anti-corruption wing of CBI when his matter was not settled as assured.Sharma would take his victims to government offices claiming to have contacts there and would ask them to sit outside.

He had in fact once visited Tanna House, CBI's Mumbai headquarters.According to CBI, Sharma had also approached R P Meena, commissioner of Income Tax, arrested in a graft case, and had sought money from him to settle the case registered against him.