Ever heard about this infamous legend who sold the impossible! India’s notorious conman Mithilesh Kumar Srivastava, better known as Natwarlal, who made fraud look like an art, “sold” the TajMahal, the RedFort, the Rashtrapati Bhavan and also the Parliament House of India along with its 545 sitting members. Here are some facts of what all he did and what he was.
Natwarlal was born in Bihar, by profession he was a lawyer before he turned into a Conman. He had duped hundreds of people of crores of rupees. He was a master of disguises who used more than 50 aliases (names) to disguise himself and commit crimes. He used novel ideas to cheat who once walked out of Kanpur jail dressed as a Sub-Inspector (in a smuggled uniform). He offered an attache case of money to the guards, addressed a taxi and drove away.
He used to pose as a Government official and fool foreign tourists by selling them famous Indian monuments. He was also a master in forging signatures of famous personalities. He forged President Rajendra Prasad’s signature and sold the Taj Mahal thrice, and the Rashtrapati Bhawan and the Lal Qila twice.
He is also said to have cheated a number of industrialists including the Tatas, the Birlas and also Dhirubhai Ambani taking from them huge money in cash, posing as a social worker or needy person. Also, he had duped many shop-owners with lakhs of rupees, paying them by cheque and demand draft, which were later found to be forged.
Natwarlal was wanted in more than 100 cases in 8 states and was sentenced to 113 years in prison by various courts. However, he hardly served a total of 20 years of imprisonment. He was arrested nine times, but every time was able to break out of jail and run away. He made daring escapes from different jails eight times in his life.
The last time he was arrested was in 1996 and was 84 years old at that time. He was on a wheelchair, old, ill and so disabled at that time, but he again managed to escape from the police. He was last seen by authorities on June 24, 1996; when the wheelchair-using octogenarian vanished while being transported from Kanpur Jail to AIIMS hospital for treatment. He disappeared at the New Delhi Railway Station, after which he was never seen by anyone.
His daring acts are often compared with Frank Abagnale of Catch Me If You Can and Victor Lustig (better known as “The Man who sold Eiffel Tower Twice” ). His adventures inspired Bollywood too. The blockbuster Bollywood film Mr. Natwarlal starring Amitabh Bacchan and Raja Natwarlal starring Emraan Hashmi were inspired by Mithilesh Srivastava.
Natwarlal also has a mysterious death, while his lawyer says that he died on 25th July 2009 at the age of 97, however, Natwarlal’s brother, Ganga Prasad Srivastava, subsequently claimed to have cremated him in 1996. The real facts about his death are still unknown. Till, date he is recognized as the greatest conman of India. He was a twisted genius.
He was a living-legend in his lifetime and a legend even after his death. The people of his native village take a pride that he belonged to their village and have decided to put up a statue of him as his monument, at the place, where his house once stood.