A 40-year-old man, Pravin Bansilal alias Balasaheb Nahata, was arrested yesterday for allegedly cheating Jayant Pawar, industrialist and nephew of Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar, of Rs 1.5 lakh.

Nahata has also cheated builders from Pune and Mumbai to the tune of Rs 500 crore, the police claimed.

He was arrested by the crime branch of rural police.

The police have also recovered 30 fake rubber stamps and documents from Nahata's residence at Shrigonda in Ahmednagar district.

Nahata had created a fake document stating that any prospective builder would get 2-crore sq ft Transfer of Development Right (TDR) in Mumbai and earn profits amounting to crores of rupees.

"Nahata knew the procedure followed at the state secretariat, Mantralaya," said Superintendent of Police (Rural) Pratap Dighavkar. "His file had fake stamps, signatures and names of officers from Housing and Special Assistance department of the state government."

"Nahata had approached Pawar in May through his driver Lalchand Shinde.u00a0 Nahata claimed that Pawar could earn profits worth Rs 6,500 crore if the deal went through. Pawar paid Rs 1.5 lakh as initial advance. Butu00a0 when Pawar cross-checked with the HSA, he found that Nahata was a fake," Dighavkar said.

"Nahata claimed to be the Chairman of Krushi Utpann Bajar Samiti and Kranti Sugar Factory in Shrigonda. Fake stamps of Defence Secretary, Reserve Bank of India, Chief Engineer of TDR unit in Mumbai Municipal Corporation, and Additional District Collector were seized from Nahata's residence, he added.

Nahata, contested the assembly polls as an independent from Shrigonda constituency.