Murder accused cheated people posing as MP

Mumbai: Days after Mumbai crime branch cracked a case where a Palghar man was murdered and his body dumped in a local river seven months ago, it has emerged that one of the five accused was also involved in defrauding a few persons by posing as sitting Member of Parliament (MP) from Orissa.

Officials said that Satya Panigrahi, one of the five accused who murdered Sachin Mohite, had created fake identity documents including an Aadhar card and a government identity card in the name of the Orissa politico.

They are yet to verify if the politician knew anything about this. “Panigrahi belongs to Orissa, and he had been posing as a local politician from there using fake identity documents.

He has revealed that he cheated several people and made money posing as the politician,” said a crime branch officer. Panigrahi was about to dupe a potential buyer by posing as owner of a land parcel in Saphale and had taken Rs 15 lakh from him at the time he was arrested.

The Mumbai crime branch officer added, “What we learnt is that he did not own the land but had produced all the necessary paperwork to show himself as owner. We are questioning him and will inform the concerned police station about this development.”

In the case involving Mohite’s murder, it was Panigrahi who hatched the plan to call Mohite to a hotel where he, along with the other arrested accused - Sandeep Kumbhar, Eklakh Chand, and Babu Jadhav – would ultimately murder him.

Mohite had told all the accused to set up a trust where share-trading companies would divert their excess funds to the tune of Rs 10 crore to save taxes. He had informed them about.