Man posing as PA to aviation minister deprives Olympian Talha Talib of Rs300,000

GUJRANWALA: Olympian Talha Talib was deprived of his Rs 300,000 prize money by an imposter who introduced himself as the personal assistant (PA) of the aviation minister after promising to gift a vehicle over his success in the Tokyo Olympics, ARY NEWS reported on Saturday.

The father of the Olympian has submitted a complaint with the Prime Minister Complaint Cell as he narrated the entire episode of fraud committed with them.

Divulging the details, he said that a man who introduced himself as a personal assistant to aviation minister called him on August 16 and conveyed that the minister wanted to gift a vehicle to Talha Talib over his success in the Olympics.

“The imposter then telephoned on August 20 and asked us to receive the vehicle after submitting registration and freight charges in the bank,” he said adding that they submitted the amount in the bank.

The father said that when they reached Sambrial dry port to receive the vehicle, the imposter switched off his phone, leaving behind no trace of him. “The money that we gave to the imposter was received by Talha Talib as prize money for his success in Olympics,” he said.

Talha Talib, the 21-year-old weightlifter managed to rank 5th in the 67kg men’s weightlifting contest at the Tokyo Olympics 2020.

The Olympian fell short of clinching a maiden weightlifting Olympic medal – an impressive feat given that he competed without the help of a professional coach.