India, July 31 -- Five persons attempted to pull off an audacious fraud, posing as senior government officials and even a former minister, to defraud a businessman of Rs.6 crore. They pretended to offer the businessman a government contract to supply 12,000 ICU beds to government hospitals - but a faked Government Resolution (GR) gave the game away.

Two of the accused posed as officers on special duty (OSDs) of ministers, while one claimed to be a former minister. They took Rs.6 crore upfront to secure the fictitious contract.

The complainant is Taufail Khan, 45, proprietor of a Vidyavihar-based company called Novel Designer Display System Private Limited, which manufactures wooden and metal furniture. One of the suspects, Nitin Gupta, ...