The raiding party searched Lavate’s vehicle and found forged identity cards of Delhi Vidhan Sabha, Ministry Of External Affairs and two PAN cards.
Two conmen who boasted political links, moved around with gun-toting security guards and booked rooms in five-star hotels — all as part of an elaborate con — have been arrested by Delhi Police. The accused, Milind Sadashiv Lavate and Rohit Mittal, were picked up by a six-man team of the Economic Offences Wing from Mumbai.
“One of the accused was arrested Friday. The other had managed to procure bail for two days, and was arrested later,” said DCP (EOW) Varsha Sharma. The raiding party searched Lavate’s vehicle and found forged identity cards of Delhi Vidhan Sabha, Ministry Of External Affairs and two PAN cards.
Police claimed the accused duped an infrastructure development company by promising to fund their hospitality project in Amritsar worth Rs 600 crore. “The accused asked the company to deposit 1% of the project cost, Rs 6 crore, in an Escrow account. The account was supposed to be managed by a neutral lawyer, but the accused withdrew money using fraudulent means and severed communications with the infra company,” said a police officer. The accused also took the company’s MD to a building guarded by security guards, where he met several people who vouched for Lavate, police said, adding that the accused kept avoiding the MD to project himself as a powerful man.