India’s biggest con artist who sold Taj Mahal, Rashtrapati Bhawan, Red Fort through…, he was from….

Here is a story of a man who is known as the ‘Natwarlal’ of India. He was one of the few people in India who could rob people of their hard-earned cash without using gun or weapons. He is also regarded as India’s greatest con man who escaped from prison ten times in his lifetime. Bihar-born Mithilesh Kumar Srivastava, infamously known as Natwarlal, sold the world wonder Taj Mahal to a group of clueless foreigners with his forgery skills. Reports also say that he sold Rashtrapati Bhawan and the Red Fort to foreigners.

Due to all these activities that Srivastava did in his lifetime, he got the unofficial title of one of the most famous con men in the world. Moreover, his acts became such famous that he was often compared to the Austro-Hungarian con artist Victor Lustig, ”who sold the Eiffel Tower twice.”

Mithilesh Kumar Srivastava was born to a station master in pre-independent India. He spent his early life in the Siwan district of Bihar where his skill at forging signatures and withdrawing money from his neighbours became talk of the town. As his con stories became famous, reports suggest that he fled to Calcutta (present-day Kolkata) after his father found out about them.

Throughout the life of Mr Natwarlal, police from various states wanted to put him behind bars, but Srivastava always managed to get away. The popular record of jailbreaks that Srivastava carried out in his lifetime made him the legend that he is today. Srivastava was arrested by the police many a times. He was also imprisoned under sections such as 420, 467, 463, 120-B of the IPC relating to criminal conspiracy and forgery, but no one could keep him in jail forever, as per a report by National Herald India.

Based on the reports, Srivastava took advantage of naïve tourists by pretending to be a government official. He tried to sell off historical landmarks and is said to have successfully ‘sold’ the Taj Mahal not just once, but thrice. Furthermore, it’s alleged that he even fooled international visitors into thinking they bought the Rashtrapati Bhawan and the Red Fort.