Ex-Congress MLA duped of Rs 10 lakh on pretext of political links, social media election campaign

Faridabad, Apr 12 (PTI) A former Congress MLA from Haryana's Ballabgarh was allegedly duped of Rs 10 lakh on the pretext of facilitating meetings with national leaders and managing her social media campaign for elections, police said on Saturday.

An FIR has been registered at Sector 17 police station based on a complaint lodged by Sharda Rathore, they said.

According to her complaint, she met the accused, Brij Bhushan Sharma, during the assembly elections. He allegedly introduced himself as a close associate of senior national leaders and claimed that his daughter was an IAS officer and his son a social media manager, they added.

Rathore alleged that she and her mother were invited to Sharma's residence for tea, where his wife and son were also present, a police officer said.

The family allegedly convinced her to pay Rs 10 lakh in exchange for arranging meetings with political leaders and managing her social media campaign.

However, after taking the money, they neither introduced her to any leaders nor did they work on any social media campaign. When she repeatedly asked for the money back, they issued two cheques amounting to Rs 8 lakh, which later bounced, the officer said citing the complaint.

The matter is under investigation and action will be taken as per law, he said.

Advocate Ruchi Munjal, representing the accused refuted the claims and said the allegations were baseless. PTI COR OZ OZ