The Delhi Police arrested a 25-year-old former cricketer on December 25 for allegedly defrauding multiple luxury hotels, including the Taj Palace, of lakhs of rupees. Mrinank Singh, the accused, duped the Taj Palace in Delhi of Rs 5.5 lakh in July 2022. Notably, between 2020 and 2021, Singh defrauded cricketer Rishabh Pant of Rs 1.63 crore.
The accused, who allegedly lived a lavish lifestyle, was apprehended at Delhi Airport while attempting to flee to Hong Kong. According to the Delhi Police, Singh pretended to be a famous cricketer who had played for the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Mrinank Singh also claimed to have participated in the Ranji Trophy in 2021 and the IPL between 2014 and 2018.
He made this claim to give the appearance that he was popular. His ability to sway women, eat at fancy restaurants, and stay in five-star hotels without having to pay for anything was made possible by this.
The Taj Hotel duped
Mrinank Singh was detained after the Taj Palace Hotel’s Director of Security filed a complaint at the Chanakyapuri police station in August of last year. The complaint claimed that Singh had stayed in the hotel from July 22 to 29, 2022, under the guise of a cricket player, and had left without paying Rs 5,53,362 in bills.
In response to a request for payment, he claimed that Adidas, his company, would handle it and even provided a fictitious UTR number for an online transaction totaling two lakh rupees. But when the hotel examined the system, they discovered that he had not made any payment. According to Ravi Kant Kumar, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, New Delhi.
The con artist called Mrinank Singh and his manager, Gagan Singh, and said he would send his driver with the money to settle the bill with the hotel employees. The complaint was then filed because Mrinank kept making these false claims and failed to pay.
Police sent a notice to Mrinank’s address during the investigation, but they were unable to get in touch with him there either. His father told the police that since they had no control over Mr. Singh, they had disowned him and kicked him out of their properties.
Rishabh Pant’s duping
Beyond staying in opulent hotels, Mrinank Singh also conned cricket player Rishabh Pant by pretending to be a trader. The accused informed Pant, according to the police, that he was in the luxury watch and jewellery business. He received his watches from the international cricket player with the intention of selling them. Pant received a cheque from the accused for Rs 1.6 crore, but it bounced.
In 2022, Mrinank Singh informed the Indian cricket player that he had started a new business dealing in luxury goods and that he could get the same items for them at a very reasonable cost, according to Pant’s attorney, Eklavya Dwivedi, in an exclusive interview with Sports Tak.
Pretending to be an IPS officer
During his detention at IGI Airport, he attempted to deceive immigration officials once more. He called senior police officials, posing as Alok Kumar, ADGP Karnataka, and asked for help in locating his son Mrinank Singh, who had been “illegally detained” at the IGI Airport.
During interrogation, Mrinank Singh repeatedly tried to mislead police and claimed that his “father”, Ashok Kumar Singh, was also an international cricket player and played for the Indian cricket team in the 1980s to late 90s. Mrinank Singh also told the police his “father” was currently working as a manager of Air India and was posted at the IGI Airport.
The police are presently verifying Singh’s claims regarding his cricketing career and other aspects of his background.
