A con artist is on the run after duping several people of lakhs of rupees under the guise of selling Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) machines by misusing Union water resources minister Gajendra Singh Shekhwat’s name. The fraudster, Anirudh Singh Dodiya, has another case registered against him at Nerul police station. He absconded after his anticipatory bail plea in the current case was rejected by the district and sessions courts in Belapur.

Shekhawat submits letter to Mumbai CP

Shekhawat has submitted a confidential letter to Mumbai Commissioner of Police Vivek Phansalkar, urging stringent action against Dodiya. Three of his accomplices are also allegedly involved in the scam, and the authorities are actively pursuing them.

Dodiya allegedly used Shekhwat’s name to get people interested in buying the equipment. One of the complainants in the case, Vijay Singh, first got acquainted with HDD machine broker Javel Ojha in Ahmedabad. Ojha mentioned that his associates, Hemakshiba Dodiya and Anirudh Dodiya, own Anirudh Singh Infrastructure Pvt Ltd that deals in heavy machinery.

Ojha convinced Vijay Singh to buy a truck set for Rs45 lakh and was invited for the deal to Ahmedabad, where he met one Sunil Pathak, who showed a machine that initially failed to start but functioned with a second battery.

Several others may have been duped, says Gujarat police

The next day, Vijay signed an agreement for Rs15 lakh in cash and Rs30 lakh as cheque, with upfront payment of Rs1 lakh. Upon receiving full cash payment, Vijay was told that workers were on leave and he could collect the machine the next morning. However, Dodiya left for Vadodara and turned off his phone. In the coming days, a defective machine was dispatched with Dodiya bragging about his brother’s influential position in the Gujarat police and his close ties with Shekhawat.

Meanwhile, the Gujarat police have inputs that several other people may have been duped by Dodia and his accomplices using the same pretext.