Man arrested for posing as minister's secretary

A 25-year-old man who posed as the secretary of the home minister as well as an Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer to cheat people was arrested here, police said Monday.

Shiv Shankar, hailing from Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh and staying in Delhi's Hardev Nagar in north Delhi, was arrested Dec 20 from Delhi University metro station in north Delhi.

According to police, Shankar who holds a Ph.D degree, appeared in various competitive exams in the national capital but failed.

"He failed to become a civil servant but wanted to open his own IAS Academy and needed money. So, he started blackmailing people," a police officer said adding that the accused even managed to marry a girl by impressing her parents with his fake credentials.

The arrest came after the police received a communication from the home ministry enclosing a complaint of one of the victims Puran Singh, a retired election commission officer who had been targeted by the accused.

As per the complaint, Shankar made several calls to the victim between Oct 20 and 27, 2014 posing as Shiv Shankar, an IB official and also as Shiv Kumar, assistant personal secretary to minister of state for home affairs.

"He told the victim that enquiries were being conducted against him as he had got black money during his tenure and asked him to meet outside the home ministry office to settle the matter," a police officer said.

Singh contacted the ministry and after due verification was informed that the numbers mentioned in the complaint did not belong to the ministry, hence, the complaint was forwarded to the police.

The accused has confessed to his crime, police said.