Overview

• BJP MLC Prasad Lad revealed that crooks forged his letterhead, signature and used an AI-generated voice to authorize a ₹3.20 crore transfer without his consent
• The fraud was exposed when the Ratnagiri district planning officer questioned a letter listing 36 Beed projects and called Lad for confirmation
• Mumbai Police registered an FIR at Sion station naming three accused and dispatched teams to multiple districts to effect arrests
• Legislative Council chairman Ram Shinde directed the state administration to implement technical safeguards and OTP checks on all MLC fund disbursals
• Similar forgery and voice-spoofing attempts have targeted Uma Khapre and Niranjan Davkhare, indicating a wider syndicate exploiting verification gaps