LUCKNOW: A couple was arrested on Sunday for cheating BJP MLA Vinod Singh, who represents Sultanpur Sadar, by promising to secure approvals from the Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) for the construction of warehouses, police said.The accused, Shashank Pandey and his wife, Soumya Pandey, were arrested in Lucknow’s Hazratganj area.According to the complaint, Pandey gained the legislator’s confidence by claiming that his brother was an IAS officer posted in Delhi and had influential connections with the CWC chairman.Pandey assured Singh that the required approvals could be secured through his brother’s intervention and took money on that pretext. When the approvals did not materialise even after four to five months, the legislator began suspecting fraud.The matter came to light after Pandey sent Singh a purported no-objection certificate (NOC) on CWC letterhead on June 2, 2026. The document was subsequently questioned and found to be forged.Singh resides at Heritage Apartment in Hazratganj, where Pandey had been living with his family as a tenant in flat number 7003 on the seventh floor.Since both belonged to the same district, the two families had developed personal relations, according to the complaint.SHO, Hazratganj, Shivanand Mishra, said Pandey used this familiarity to offer assistance in obtaining approvals for railway goods warehouses, wine warehouses, medicine storage facilities and Food Corporation of India (FCI) warehouses.He claimed that his IAS brother was posted at the Prime Minister’s Office and had helped secure the appointment of CWC chairman Ashutosh Agnihotri through his influence.Pandey reportedly told the MLA that approvals could be obtained quickly if the required money was paid. He helped prepare an application and claimed it would be submitted at the corporation’s office in New Delhi.According to Singh’s account, Pandey later said that payments had to be made through an established system and that the money would reach his IAS brother, who would speak to the CWC chairman to facilitate the approvals.When the approvals failed to materialise after several months, Pandey continued delaying the matter by citing administrative hurdles.When Singh sought a meeting with the CWC chairman, Pandey reportedly claimed that the chairman did not meet people directly.Singh then demanded the return of his money.On June 2, Pandey sent him an NOC bearing the CWC letterhead through WhatsApp. Doubting the document’s authenticity, Singh asked his friend, Arvind Singh, to visit the corporation’s corporate office in New Delhi.On June 3, Arvind reportedly met a deputy general manager of the corporation and showed him the document. According to the complaint, the official described it as forged and said the corporation did not issue such letters in that manner.Singh said he confronted Pandey and his wife over the forged NOC and asked them to return the money within two days.The legislator subsequently travelled to Sultanpur.When he returned to Lucknow two days later, he discovered that Pandey and his family had vacated their apartment and disappeared.Singh accused the couple of cheating him, abusing his trust and misappropriating his money.SHO, Mishra said that police registered a case in connection with the alleged fraud and arrested the couple in Hazratganj on Sunday. Shashank Pandey is named in two additional cases registered in Sultanpur.Soni Pandey alias Sonia is also named in FIR in Sultanpur, besides the current case registered in Lucknow.
