Sanjay Prakash Rai, a 'conman', was arrested by a team of Special Task Force of the Uttar Pradesh Police for allegedly duping people of their money by the ostentatious display of his proximity with ruling party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Several photos of Rai show him posing with BJP chief JP Nadda, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, Union Minister Anurag Thakur, and prominent news anchors. Rai shared these photos widely on his social media handles, which have now been deactivated.
A photo of Rai with Union Minister Anurag Thakur.
(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)
A photo of Rai with BJP chief JP Nadda.
(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)
Rai with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat.
(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)
Sanjay Rai aka Sanjay Sherpuriya, a resident of Ghazipur, was arrested from the Kanpur Railway station while he was on board Suheldev Express on 25 April 2023.
Based on the written complaint of STF inspector Sachin Kumar, a case was filed against Rai under Sections 420, 467, 468, and 471of the Indian Penal Code and Section 66D of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008.
The case against Rai states that he had undertaken all these activities for personal benefit and on the basis of misleading facts. "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 read.
A photo of Rai with news anchor Anjana Om Kashyap.
(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)
Rai with journalist Rajat Sharma.
(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)
Probe Agencies Follow the Money, Leads To Rai
If sources are to be believed, Rai's fraudulent businesses are spread across UP, Delhi, and Gujarat. He has also been declared a defaulter in cases of non-payment of loans by several banks. Rai first came under the scanner of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) when Rs 6 crore was allegedly put into the bank account of a foundation promoted by him.
Rai had registered a private company called 'Youth Rural Entrepreneur Foundation' in the name of a dummy director. While he himself did not hold any position in the company, he promoted himself on social media as its main executive.
When details of the bank account of the company were sought by investigative agencies, Rs 6 crore were found to have been put into Foundation's account in two transactions of Rs 5 crore and Rs 1 crore on 21 and 23 January 2023 respectively.
During the interrogation, Rai said that the money had been given to him by industrialist Gaurav Dalmia. As per the FIR lodged against Rai, central agencies were probing Dalmia in a case of financial irregularities. He had thus given money to Rai to get the case against him dropped.
Multiple IDs, Membership Cards Recovered
Aadhaar cards with two different addresses and other membership cards were also recovered from Rai. One of the addresses was in central Delhi and the other in Gurgaon.
Three membership cards were also found linked to him, including those of Delhi Gymkhana, YMCA International Center, and Club 19. A movement pass with the stamp of the deputy commissioner of police was also recovered from him.
The UP STF said that Rai claimed that he used to cheat people by giving different ID cards to them so that his actual identity could not be established.
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