Abhayjeet Singh Kalra, who owns a bakery named Hot Oven in Karol Bagh, had lodged a complaint against Seema Malhotra. Police said she had deposited the baker’s money in the account of one Madhu Singh, whom she had met while undergoing a jail term for cheating. The police are also hunting for Singh.

Police said Malhotra had met Kalra’s mother in 2010, and introduced herself as the personal assistant of Banerjee. During subsequent visits, she became friendly with her, asking her at times to pack some food for the minister. “She told them that the minister was a fan of their establishment, and once made them speak over the phone to a woman who claimed to be Mamta Banerjee,” Devesh Chandra Srivastva, Additional Commissioner of Police (Central District) said.

Later, she “informed” them about a project of the Indian Railways, The Rajasthan Royal Express, and told them to apply for the Rs 23-crore catering tender. Malhotra told them that she could help Kalra get the contract, but he would have to pay 30 per cent of the contract amount to her in advance. “Kalra also gave a quotation, which was supposed to be delivered to the Railway ministry, and Malhotra told him that it had been approved,” Srivastva said.

“Malhotra also presented him a receipt from the Northern Railway, showing that Rs 5.5 lakh had been deposited. Claiming that he was on the verge of getting the contract, she then allegedly asked him to apply for another tender, this time for toilet kits. Convinced, Kalra gave an additional Rs 2.75 lakh as part fee for the tender. For this too, he got a receipt,” Srivastva added.

The matter came to light only after Kalra’s father, before paying the balance amount of Rs 11 lakh, checked the authenticity of the tenders. Only then did they realise that the money was deposited into a private account, and not utilised for payment of any Railway tender. They lodged a complaint.

Later, police found that the pay orders were credited into the account of one Madhu Singh at the Punjab National Bank, Paharganj, and no person called Seema Malhotra existed in the Railway ministry. They also informed the family that The Rajasthan Royal Express was a figment of somebody’s imagination.

Besides this, Malhotra was also involved in three previous cases of fraud, and had breached bail conditions. Police are now hunting for Singh.