By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
A conman who used to swindle money under the pretext of providing election tickets to Congress leaders by posing as a close assistant of Rahul Gandhi was arrested in Dehradun.
The arrest of Gaurav Kumar, a native of Amritsar in Punjab, came on Monday after Congress leader Bhavna Pandey filed a police complaint stating that she has been duped of Rs 25 lakh by a person who was posing as assistant to leader of the opposition Rahul Gandhi.
After the arrest, state Congress President Ganesh Godiyal asked the Uttarakhand police to reveal all details of the fraud committed by the conman. Godiyal said he too received a phone call from the conman but escaped the apparent fraud attempt.
Preliminary investigations revealed that Gaurav Kumar, in collusion with his accomplices, had fleeced crores of rupees from several senior Congress leaders in Uttarakhand and other states by falsely promising them significant party positions or tickets to contest the coming assembly elections in the hill state.
Pandey filed a written complaint at the Rajpur police station on May 3 alleging that an individual identifying himself as ‘Kanishk Singh’, assistant of Rahul Gandhi demanded ₹25 lakh from her in exchange for giving significant position within the party. According to the complaint, the individual subsequently sent an accomplice to Pandey’s residence in Jakhan, where the money was handed over to him.
After receiving the money, the individual stopped answering Pandey’s calls. Growing suspicious, she subsequently filed a complaint with the police. A case was immediately registered and an investigation was initiated.
According to the police, intelligence gathered through mobile surveillance, CCTV footage, and a network of informants revealed that the accused who had defrauded Pandey was scheduled to visit the Pacific Mall in the Jakhan area to collect money from a party functionary under the pretext of providing an election ticket. Acting swiftly, the police arrested Gaurav Kumar, who was posing as Kanishk Singh.
During interrogation, the accused revealed his true identity and admitted that he had gathered information about Kanishk Singh a close associate of Rahul Gandhi through Google. The accused revealed that he created a fake ID under the name ‘Kanishk Singh’ on the ‘Truecaller’ app. He also gathered detailed information regarding senior leaders associated with the Congress party from across the country. Following this, in collaboration with three accomplices—Chhajju, Rajat Madan, and Maninder Singh Kalu, all residents of Punjab he defrauded several political leaders. A manhunt has been launched to nab the other accomplices.
Interrogation revealed that, in Jaipur, Rajasthan, the accused extorted money from two leaders—specifically ₹1.90 crore and ₹12 lakh, respectively—under the pretext of securing them tickets to contest the legislative assembly elections. Furthermore, in 2025, he accepted ₹3 lakh from a leader in Patna, Bihar, with the promise of securing him a significant position within the party.
The accused also admitted that similar fraudulent activities were perpetrated by the group in several other states as well. The police stated that they are currently gathering information regarding these incidents.