Location: India (primarily Agra, Delhi, and various cities) š®š³
Story: Natwarlal, born Mithilesh Kumar Srivastava, was not an ordinary con artist he was a legend. A law graduate who spoke flawless English, he posed as a high-ranking government official and targeted wealthy foreign tourists. His most audacious scheme? Selling the Taj Mahal; not once, but three times, to unsuspecting foreigners. Using forged documents complete with the Indian president's signature, he convinced buyers that the government was secretly auctioning off monuments due to financial crisis. ā”ļø
Twist: His scams extended beyond the Taj. He sold the Red Fort twice, Rashtrapati Bhavan (the presidential residence), and even the Indian Parliament, allegedly including all 545 members as part of the deal. Arrested over 100 times and sentenced to 113 years in prison, he repeatedly escaped, most famously in 1957 by donning a police uniform and walking out of Kanpur jail. His final escape came at age 84 in 1996, when he vanished from a New Delhi railway station while in police custody, leaving only his wheelchair behind. He was never seen again. To this day, Indians call outrageous lies "Natwarlal stories", a fitting tribute to a man who swindled the powerful, fooled the law, and turned deception into an art form. āļø