Two impersonators nabbed, five cops suspended in Ghaziabad

Uttar Pradesh Police Friday arrested two men in Ghaziabad town for defrauding people by impersonating as a judge, senior administrative officer and a journalist. Five constables who colluded with them were also suspended, police said.

Two of the arrested men are brothers -- the elder brother Vivek Rana is a constable with Uttar Pradesh Police and posted in Ghaziabad district.

The younger revealed his identity as Satish Chandra of Bulandshahr, currently residing at G-1, 48B, Mahendra Enclave in Ghaziabad.

Police said Vijay Nagar police station chief Hardayal Singh Yadav received two calls on his mobile Dec 1, 2013, and was asked to send some money to a judicial officer in Meerut.

Becoming suspicious, the police officer registered a criminal case under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 384 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 66 of the IT Act.

The officer also fetched customer application form and other documents of the mobile numbers -- 9891443298 and 8506800838 -- from the service provider company and found the documents to be forged with different photos of applicants pasted while the residential addresses did not match.

The case was handed over to the Crime Branch that put both numbers on surveillance and tracked the caller to Meerut Road from where Chandra was nabbed.

During interrogation, he confessed he impersonated as Additional District and Sessions Judge of Meerut and tried to extract money from the police station chief.

Chandra also revealed that he was arrested in Baghpat in Uttar Pradeshin 2010 when he impersonated as Alok Kumar, a correspondent with the Times of India, and on Feb 26, 2010, called Uttar Pradesh Police ADG Brij Lal from a mobile number 9013366495 to revert the transfer of police constable Ritesh from Sonbhadra to Baghpat.

A case under Sections 419, 468 and 471 of the IPC was registered against him.

The police arrested him and his accomplice, constable Rana. A PAN card, two mobile phones, three bank passbooks along with deposit slips and cheque books were recovered from them.

"A total of 15 cases of dubious transfers and nine cases of suspicious property deals through impersonation have come to light till now. We expect some more revelations during further investigation," said investigating officer Vinod Singh Sirohi.

"Five police constables -- Satish Chandra Tyagi, Vishwa Prakash Pandey, Rajpal, Mahendra, Shiv Kumar Pandey -- were found to be colluding with the two in this illegal operation. They have been suspended with immediate effect and a departmental inquiry ordered against them," said Ghaziabad police Crime Branch inspector Rajesh Dwivedi.