A man in his mid-40s from New Delhi, who used to post tender notifications online in Union Government's name and disappear after collecting money in the form of earnest money deposit, was arrested by Hyderabad police on Tuesday.
The accused Amjad Sohail Ahmed would post tender notifications through websites like tender247.com or tendersinfo.com . He would issue the tenders in the name of Centre of Development Studies (CDS), claiming that it was an autonomous body of the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development.
“Responding to one such notification, Andhra Pradesh Productivity Council (a government wing) officials transferred one lakh rupees as EMD to the account specified in the notification,” Hyderabad Central Crime Station Inspector G. Shankar Raju said. The accused sent an email to the Council stating that it was short-listed for assessing enforcement of Central government sponsored programmes in four districts of Telangana.
Sohail also asked the Council officials to transfer ₹4.4 lakh towards performance guarantee. The authorities transferred the money but grew suspicious as the bank accounts appeared to be personal. They approached the bank authorities who directed them to lodge a complaint with the police.
“We found that the two bank accounts belonged to two wives of the accused and he was eartlier arrested by the Gujarat police in a similar case there,” the Inspector said. They brought him to Hyderabad on prisoner transit warrant and presented before a local court.
