Congress MLA from Chhattisgarh’s Jaijaipur constituency Baleshwar Sahu was arrested on Friday in a cheating and forgery case and sent to judicial custody till January 22 after a CJM court rejected his bail plea.
The complainant, Raj Kumar Sharma, a resident of Parsa Pali, alleged that the MLA and one Gautam Rathore cheated him of Rs 42.78 lakh between 2015 and 2020, when Sahu was serving as the manager of a co-operative society in Bamhnidih and Rathore was a sales agent.
Sharma in his complaint said the duo advised him to take a Kisan Credit Card (KCC) loan against his 50 acres of land and under this pretext, they facilitated opening an account for him at a private bank in Champa. They allegedly took blank cheques from Sharma, and Sahu transferred Rs 24 lakh into his own account. According to Sharma, the duo also forged his signature and thumbprint and illegally withdrew a total of Rs 42,78,000.
Based on Sharma’s complaint on October 3 last year, an FIR under IPC sections for cheating and forgery was registered at Champa police station against Sahu and Rathore.
“Upon investigation, the allegations were found to be true,” said Vijay Pandey, Superintendent of Police, Janjgir-Champa district.
“After accepting the chargesheet, the honorable magistrate court issued a jail warrant. Subsequently, the accused (Sahu) filed an application for regular bail in the same court, which was rejected. We took him for a medical test and then he was sent to judicial custody,” the SP said.
An FIR has been registered against the duo under IPC Sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 34 (common intention).
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Reacting to the development, Congress’s communications head for Chhattisgarh Sushil Anand Shukla said: “The BJP has hatched a conspiracy and booked our MLA. We have full faith in the judiciary and we believe he will be acquitted of all charges.”
