A ₹5.29 crore fraud has come to light in Bilaspur, where a local businessman, identified as Manoj Tiwari, was allegedly duped by a quartet posing as officials from the National Rural Literacy Mission under the Ministry of Education. Authorities have registered an FIR against four accused in the Tarbahar police station.
Masking as Officials of Government Mission
In November 2024, the perpetrators approached Tiwari with documents that appeared to be officially sanctioned by the literacy mission, promising a ₹30 crore contract for supplying sweaters across Karnataka. They presented counterfeit ministry seals, forged authorization letters, and official-looking paperwork to build credibility.
Trusting the façade, Tiwari issued a demand draft for ₹25 lacks and paid ₹15 lakh in cash as tender security. However, upon completing and dispatching high-quality sweaters in January 2025, he was handed a cheque for ₹5.29 crore only for it to bounce. Further contact with the scam group revealed that the entire operation was a hoax; no such mission existed.
Scam Investigation Underway
Following the cheque bounce, Tiwari filed a complaint at Tarbahar police. The FIR includes charges of forgery of official documents, criminal conspiracy, and cheating under relevant IPC sections. Four individuals Anita Upadhyay, Karunakara (alias Ratnakara) Upadhyay, Saurabh Singh, and Pranshu Agarwal have been named in the complaint.
Tiwari stated that the fallout from the fraud severely impacted his business operations, and he is now pursuing legal restitution of the ₹5.29 crore.
Local police are tracing the accused and investigating document sources and financial trails. Officials believe this may be part of a broader scam network exploiting fake government tenders and confidence schemes.
About the Author – Anirudh Mittal is a B.Sc. LL.B. (Hons.) student at National Forensic Sciences University, Gandhinagar, with a keen interest in corporate law and tech-driven legal change.