New Delhi: Man cheats Delhi Speaker by posing as plasma donor, held

New Delhi : The Delhi Police on Monday arrested a man for cheating Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel by impersonating as a plasma donor.

The man, identified as Abdul Karim alias Rahul Thakur, pretended to be a plasma donor by posing as a COVID-19 recovered doctor employed at Ram Manohar Hospital and solicited money from people.

Thakur was nabbed two days after Goel lodged a complaint at the Civil Lines police station. He belongs to Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district.

In a complaint, Goel stated that the accused asked for money to travel to the hospital where a COVID-19 patient is admitted and after the money was transferred, he stopped taking calls.

The Delhi Assembly Speaker said that his nephew gave him the accused's number. Thakur had also called his nephew a few days before that, after the latter put up a post on a social media website seeking a plasma donor.

"I called Rahul Thakur who represented to me also that he is a doctor at RML Hospital and had recently recovered from COVID-19 and that he would donate plasma for my patient," said Goel.

"Thakur asked me to transfer money to his Google Pay Linked to mobile number for cab charges which was immediately done by my staff and he assured me that he would reach Medanta Hospital in 45 minutes," he said, adding that the accused stopped taking his calls after that.

The Delhi Police said that "the contents of the complaint by Goel included that someone cheated him of Rs 950." The accused was identified through the phone number obtained from the complainant.

"During the course of investigation, the suspect was interrogated thoroughly. On sustained interrogation, he confessed to receiving money through Google Pay account from needy people by introducing himself as a donor," the police added.