Former cricketer Mrinank Singh dupes Rishabh Pant, businessman and others

Rishabh Pant, India’s star wicketkeeper and skipper of Delhi Capitals (DC) IPL team, has been cheated by jailed Haryana cricketer Mrinank Singh. The wicketkeeper was reportedly conned of Rs 1.63 crore by Singh in February under the pretext of reselling luxury watches, bags, and jewellery through a bounced cheque.

Singh, 23, who played for Haryana Under-19s and was part of the IPL auction list in 2018, was arrested by Mumbai’s Juhu Police earlier this month for duping a businessman of Rs 6 lakh. He is currently lodged at the Arthur Road jail.

Even though Singh’s case has come to the fore now, a cheque given by Singh to Pant was dishonoured a few months ago on account of insufficient funds. The case, therefore, comes under the negotiable instruments act.

Speaking to Sports Tak, Pant’s lawyer Eklavya Dwivedi said the two cricketers knew each other through the sport and had met in the zonal cricket academy camp.

In 2021, Singh told Pant he was starting a new business of luxury items where he could get these items at a reasonable cost. Pant gave him a sizeable amount to procure some items for him and also gave him certain luxury items such as jewellery for reselling. The complaint by Pant said the cricketer had given Singh a watch worth more than Rs 65,000.

Pant sent him a legal notice when he was not able to obtain those articles and both the parties mutually settled to resolve the matter with Singh paying Rs 1.63 crore to Pant. Singh issued a cheque, which bounced because of insufficient funds in February.

Along with the interest, the total amount has now climbed to somewhere between Rs 1.8 and 1.9 crore, Dwivedi said. The hearing for the case is on July 19.

Similar to Pant, Singh had duped a Mumbai-based businessman of Rs 6 lakh by offering to get him expensive watches and mobile phones at reasonable rates. The businessman, 35, makes reels for social media sites and lives in Juhu. He had met Singh on Instagram in 2018 and the two had become friends and attended parties together.

In 2020, Singh told the businessman that he could get him expensive watches and mobile phones at cheaper rates. Lured by the proposal, the businessman gave Singh Rs 6 lakh. Later, Singh stopped taking his calls.

Although, the incident happened in 2020, the businessman could not file a case against Singh due to the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, Mid-Day reported.

After the report of Singh’s arrest, a film director based out of Mumbai said he, too, was duped by the 23-year-old cricketer of Rs 25,000 in Chandigarh, another Mid-Day report said. The film director, who did not want to be identified, said Singh had met him at a five-star hotel in Chandigarh, and offered to invest in his upcoming film. He also agreed to meet the scriptwriter in Mumbai, for which a meeting was scheduled on April 28.

Later, Singh called the film director and asked him to clear his bills in the hotel as he had lost his wallet.

“He asked me if I could transfer Rs 25,000 to him. I felt a little suspicious, but I was busy, so I transferred the amount,” the director told Mid Day. Singh said he would pay back the amount, he kept delaying, he added.  It was only after Singh’s arrest that the director realised he had been cheated.

Singh has allegedly conned a number of hotels by not paying for his stays. The cricketer had claimed to be a part of the Mumbai Indians IPL team and said his team manager would clear his tab. According to reports, there are around 18 people who have lodged complaints against him. The police believe Singh engaged in these crimes to maintain his lavish lifestyle.