Two held for scam in selling shops online in U.P's Kashi Vishwanath Dham

The Varanasi police have arrested two persons for allegedly posting fake advertisements on social media for the sale of shops in Kashi Vishwanath Dham area even though the project is still not complete.

The police are on the lookout for the accomplices of the two accused who have been sent to jail.

According to reports, Kashi Vishwanath Temple Trust's Chief Executive Officer, Sunil Verma was informed about the fake advertisements after which he lodged an FIR.

Varanasi Commissioner of Police, Satish Ganesh said, "Our team arrested the accused Shashikant Chaurasia and his accomplice Ratna Shekhar, who posed as a BJP office-bearer, on Sunday. Both have been sent to jail while a search has been launched for their accomplices."

The construction of shops is proposed in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream project Kashi Vishwanath Dham area, but no allotment has been started yet since the project is still not complete.

Chaurasia had posted fake advertisements on his Facebook page.


Temple Trust CEO Sunil Verma said, "Some officials saw Chaurasia's advertisement which said the shops are available in limited numbers and price of each shop was Rs 70 lakh. Those interested in the shops were asked to contact at the earliest."

Verma lodged a complaint following which the Dashashwamedh police started investigations.

Dashashwamedh Assistant Police Commissioner, Awadhesh Kumar Pandey said, "The accused had also finalised the deal of some shops. Investigations are on to find out whether any transaction of money was done in these deals."


Police is investigating whether the accused had taken Rs 35 lakh as the advertisement said the buyers had to pay 50 per cent of the cost in advance.

One more accomplice of the accused duo is on the police radar for furnishing a fake certificate in the name of the District Magistrate regarding allotment of shops.

Ratna Shekhar, one of the accused, posed as the BJP Vice-President of Kashi region unit.

On his Facebook profile, Chaurasia posed as a real estate trader owning a firm titled Lion Group - IANS