fake paintings india investment banker farmer charge sheet 1234757550
Indian officials released a charge sheet in September accusing a poor farmer, Raghavendra Parmar, of posing as a maharaja to sell forged paintings by M. F. Husain, S. H. Raza, and other major Indian artists to investment banker Puneet Bhatia. The 11 fake works, allegedly worth about $2 million, were sold through Mumbai's Rare Art Gallery, run by Rajesh Rajpal, and involved lawyer Vishwang Desai as a middleman. The investigation, ongoing since 2023, also implicates former IAS officer Subroto Banerjee, who denies involvement.