Panaji, Oct 19: In an interesting case, a man impersonating former Goa chief minister Digambar Kamat duped Congress MP and newspaper baron Vijay Darda of Rs.34 lakh.
The man sought the money to help Congress legislator and former Harayana minister Gopal Goyal Kanda, who is in jail for his alleged involvement in the suicide of a former employee Gitika Sharma.
On Oct 18, police in Pune filed a complaint after Darda said an unknown person called him claiming to be Kamat and asked for Rs.34 lakh.
"Darda called me some days back asking if I had received the money. I was shocked. When he told me he had paid someone claiming to be me, I told him to file a police complaint," Kamat told IANS.
Darda in his complaint said he had paid Rs.34 lakh to the impostor on Oct 9 and 11 in two instalments. He said the person promised to return the money by Oct 15.
Reacting to the incident, Darda said he too used to get calls from impostors asking for money.
"This is not the first time such a thing has happened. When I was chief minister, I used to get several calls from such impostors claiming to be this or that and in need of money. There is clearly a gang operating," said Kamat.
The accused, Digambar alias Balasaheb Khaire Patil, was arrested from Solapur yesterday.
