The police said that the 49-year-old complainant, the proprietor of an event management firm based in Andheri West, met the accused Anutosh alias Ashutosh Upadhyay on a flight from Lucknow to Mumbai on May 2, 2024
Pilgrims gather to take a ‘holy dip’ during the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj. FILE PIC/AFP
An event management professional from Andheri West has filed a complaint with Amboli police after being allegedly duped of Rs 12.8 lakh by a man posing as a government official promising lucrative contracts for the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, earlier this year. According to the officers, the complainant had submitted a written application at the police station earlier, and following an inquiry, an FIR was registered late on Wednesday night.
The police said that the 49-year-old complainant, the proprietor of an event management firm based in Andheri West, met the accused Anutosh alias Ashutosh Upadhyay on a flight from Lucknow to Mumbai on May 2, 2024. During the journey, Upadhyay allegedly introduced himself as a board member of the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment and later claimed to be the national director of various organisations, including the Adarsh Brahmin Foundation and the National Human Rights & Social Justice Commission.
The complaint told police that Upadhyay convinced him that the UP government had selected his company as an official event partner for the Kumbh Mela. To secure the contract, the complaint was asked to pay a “registration fee” of Rs 2.8 lakh, followed by an additional Rs 10 lakh towards other formalities. The money was transferred through NEFT and deposited into an ICICI Bank account linked to a firm allegedly controlled by Upadhyay.
The complainant said he even received forged correspondence on the letterhead of the Directorate of Tourism, Government of Uttar Pradesh, confirming his registration. “Believing it to be genuine, I paid the amounts in instalments between August 6 and August 20, 2024. Later, when I checked with the UP government website, I discovered that the document was fake and had been tampered with,” he stated in his complaint.
When confronted, Upadhyay allegedly assured him a refund and issued a cheque of R2.8 lakh dated November 12, 2024. However, the cheque bounced when deposited, with the bank citing a signature mismatch. Subsequently, a complaint was filed at the Amboli police station.
Based on the complaint, we registered a case under relevant sections of BNS, including cheating and forgery, against the accused, and are investigating further, an officer said. “This was an old complaint, and after inquiry, an FIR has now been registered under relevant sections of the BNS. We are investigating the case,” said Senior Inspector Pramod Kumar Kokate of Amboli police station.
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