SRINAGAR/AHMEDABAD: A fraudster from Ahmedabad, impersonating a high-ranking PMO official, moved around in a bulletproof vehicle with Z-plus security, enjoyed five-star stay, and threatened bureaucrats and cops with transfers during several trips to Jammu and Kashmir, before his cover was recently blown up.
The imposter, Kiran Patel, had also duped people in Gujarat, and perhaps a few other states, but ran out of luck while on his third visit to J&K in the last four months, and was arrested on March 3.
The details of his con act became public after he was produced in court on Thursday.
On Friday, a Srinagar court remanded him in judicial custody for 15 days.
Patel, who posed as additional director (strategy & campaigns) in the prime minister’s office, was picked up from The Lalit hotel in Srinagar by a police team following a tip-off by Jammu and Kashmir CID. At least 10 fake visiting cards and two mobile phones were seized from him.
According to police sources, there were three more persons accompanying Patel, but they managed to escape.
Patel was taken to Nishat police station, where an FIR was registered for cheating, forgery and impersonation. A team led by SP, east Srinagar, is investigating the case.
Patel visited not just tourist places such as Gulmarg, Phalagam and Sonmarg, but also sensitive locations, and even posted photographs of his “official trips” to Kashmir, displaying his security cover and escort vehicles, on his social media accounts.
He held meetings with several senior officials in Kashmir and some of them lobbied with him for postings as he allegedly claimed to have a say in transfers and postings.
This was not the first time Patel duped people and the government machinery in the name of the prime minister. He has three cases registered against him in Gujarat — at Raopura police station in Vadodara, Naroda police station in Ahmedabad and Bayad police station in Aravalli district — for cheating people of Rs 3.25 crore.
Patel is a resident of Ghodasar area and runs Modified Concept Private Limited, an audit firm, in Navrangpura area of Ahmedabad.
According to Gujarat Police, the conman has been visiting Kashmir “for review of development projects” since 2015. “Patel visited various areas in J&K, allegedly to monitor development projects like Pirpanjal tunnel project and redevelopment of Lal Chowk in Srinagar. He also claimed to have been tasked by the PMO to instil confidence in the people of Kashmir,” said a police officer.
The state police also suspect him of having visited Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, posing as a senior bureaucrat.