Second case filed against Thane AI automation firm director over two bogus work orders worth almost Rs 4 crore for Kumbh Mela

Nashik: The Bhadrakali police have registered a case against a Thane-based AI firm director for allegedly forging official documents and the digital signature of the Nashik-Trimbakeshwar Kumbh Mela commissioner to obtain fraudulent contracts worth nearly Rs 4 crore, officials said.The accused, Abhishek Sanjay Zare, the director of Innovative Intelligence AI Automation Solutions Agency, has already been arrested by the Nashik Road police in a related case involving forged work orders worth Rs 35 crore."In the case registered with the Bhadrakali police station by the authorities of the Nashik-Trimbakeshwar Kumbh Mela Authority, Zare is accused of forging letterheads, digital signatures of the commissioner of the Authority and creating two work orders worth nearly Rs 4 crore. During the investigation of the suspect in Nashik Road case, verification of the mobile device revealed forged documents, including a three-page order worth Rs 2.2 crore for the deployment of 300 traffic wardens and a nine-page order worth Rs 1.7 crore involving the handover and renovation of the Trimbakeshwar sub-district hospital. These documents were created using counterfeit letterheads, e-office numbers and official seals to mimic legitimate administrative approvals for high-value projects by NTKMA commissioner," said assistant inspector Vasant Pawar, of the Bhadrakali police station.Accordingly, a complaint was filed by Vishal Ashok Patil, the assistant research officer at the Kumbh Mela Authority. The police have invoked BNS sections 318(1) (cheating), 336(2) (forgery of electronic records), 336(3) (forgery of valuable securities), and 338 (use of forged documents as genuine).The police said the latest case is linked to a broader fraud uncovered earlier, where Zare allegedly attempted to cheat the authority using fake CCTV and AI surveillance work orders worth Rs 35 crore, as flagged by Kumbh Mela Authority chairman Praveen Gedam.Officials said the modus operandi points to a systematic attempt to exploit large-scale infrastructure preparations for the 2027 Simhastha Kumbh Mela.Investigations are ongoing to identify any accomplices and trace the full extent of the alleged fraud.