Man held in Bihar for trying to dupe MLA, official

A man has been arrested for allegedly trying to dupe a JD(U) MLA and a government official by posing as officer on special duty to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Kishanganj district, police said on Sunday.

Shashibhushan Kumar alias Ratnesh, who had called MLA Mujahid Alam and an executive engineer of the Rural Development Department last week claiming to be an OSD to the chief minister, was arrested from Kudhni police station area of Muzaffarpur district late Saturday night, Director General of Police Gupteshwar Pandey said.

Alam, who represents Kochadhaman assembly seat of Kishanganj, told PTI over phone that he had received two phone calls from the accused on August 1 and was asked whether he had made any complaint against executive engineer Amal Prakash.

"I denied having made any such complaint but the tone of the voice of the caller made me suspicious and hence I called up Amal Prakash on August 2. The engineer told me that he had received a message from the office of the district magistrate that CM's OSD wanted to have a word with him," Alam said.

"When Prakash called up Ratnesh on the mobile number he had left with the DM's office, the latter first insisted that the engineer call him from his personal number and not the official one. Thereafter, Prakash was told that a case of financial irregularity was sent to the CM's office purportedly by me and that he (Ratnesh) could help him out in exchange for some money," the MLA said.

Alam said thereafter he immediately wrote a letter to the chief minister.

"This left me alarmed and I immediately wrote a letter, addressed to the chief minister, which was sent by fax. I was summoned by the chief minister to his official residence on August 5 and I shared more details during my meeting with him which took place in presence of Chief Secretary Deepak Kumar, the DGP and other officials," he said.

The MLA said instructions were issued by the chief minister to trace the caller and nab him at the earliest.

"Ratnesh was traced to Muzaffarpur. He lived in a rented house in the town and was on his way to his ancestral home in Kudhni police station area when he was nabbed by a team constituted by Senior Superintendent of Police Manoj Kumar," the DGP said.

"After preliminary interrogation, during which Ratnesh confessed to his crime, he was handed over to the economic offences wing of police and he has been brought to the state capital for further investigation and action," he added.