Kumbh Mela tent supplier firm charged with Rs 109.85 cr fraud, 11 booked

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Prayagraj: A tent supplier for the Kumbh Mela has been charged with fraud worth a whopping Rs 109.85 crore. 

The tent supplier in question, `Lallooji and Sons`, has been accused of submitting forged bills to the Uttar Pradesh government defrauding it of amount to the tune of Rs 109.85 crore.

The bills were for goods provided during Kumbh Mela in the year 2019. The firm has been providing tents, furniture and loudspeakers for the Maha Kumbh, Kumbh and Magh Mela for decades.

The firm submitted bills worth Rs 196.24 crore between February 2017 and July 6, 2019. However, scrutiny showed that only bills of Rs 86.38 crore were real, while others were forged.

An FIR has been filed at the Daraganj police station in Prayagraj against `Lallooji and Sons`, one of the leading tent suppliers. The FIR was registered on a complaint submitted by the then additional Kumbh Mela Officer, Dayanand Prasad.

As many as 11 persons in the firm was been booked.

The Kumbh Mela Adhikari, Prayagraj Mela Authority, Vijay Kiran Anand said if all payments are taken into account then nearly Rs 171 crores has been paid to the company.

"The firm had raised fake bills worth crores. If payments made to the firm from all departments are taken into account, it has been paid around Rs 171 crores," he told IANS.

The firm has also been blacklisted by the Prayagraj Mela Authority for the next five years.

(With input from agencies)