India News | One Held over Fake Ads About Govt Land Allotment Near Noida Airport

Noida, Dec 14 (PTI) A man was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly publishing a fraud advertisement on social media about allotment of government land near the upcoming Noida International Airport, police officials said.

According to the advertisement floated on social media sites like Facebook, the land belonged to the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA), a body under the Uttar Pradesh government and stakeholder in the airport.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently laid the foundation stone for the greenfield Noida International Airport, which is coming up along the Yamuna Expressway in the Jewar area and billed to be India's biggest airport upon completion.

"The accused has been identified as Manoj Sharma, a resident of Indirapuram in adjoining Ghaziabad district. He was arrested by a team of Beta 2 police station from Pari Chowk in Greater Noida," a police spokesperson said.

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The police said YEIDA officials had reported the matter to them on December 9 after it came to know about such an advertisement about land allotment floating on the social media.

However, the YEIDA officials confirmed not having put out any such advertisement and sought strict action against the culprit for using the state government's entity's name to make quick money, the police said.

An FIR was lodged under Indian Penal Code section 420 (cheating) and Section 66 of the Information Technology (IT) Act after which the accused was held on Tuesday morning following a tip off about his movement in Pari Chowk area, the police added.

According to officials, Sharma told the police that he had withdrawn the advertisement from social media sites once he got to know that an FIR had been lodged against him.

However, the police are investigating the matter further and checking Sharma's background for any criminal history or nexus, the officials said, adding that one more person's name has cropped up during the probe and searches have been launched to nab him too.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)