Suspended UP minority commission member held for pretending to be Yashwant Sinha

Former Uttar Pradesh Minority Commission member Kunwar Afzal Chaudhary was arrested today for allegedly impersonating as ex-BJP leader Yashwant Sinha to get his personal works done by authorities, police said.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had yesterday sacked Chaudhary, a BJP leader from Ghaziabad, with immediate effect.

According to the police, Chaudhary was making phone calls and mounting pressure on officers for getting his work done, posing himself as former Union finance minister Sinha.

Senior Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Krishna said Chaudhary was quizzed by the crime branch of police. A probe was initiated against him when he tried to dupe the district authorities for getting his illegal works done, the officer said.

Chaudhary also pretended to be UP deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma and former Gujarat chief minister Shankar Singh Vaghela over phone calls to get some works done, he said.

"He made phone calls to me to release two accused of thrashing a UP roadways bus conductor in a very dictating way," the SSP said, adding that he once even asked the district magistrate, Ritu Maheswari, to decide a land matter in favour of retired officer.

"Such activities created suspicion and a probe was launched to trace out the caller," he said.

Yesterday, the crime branch arrested Chaudhary and his accomplice Krishna Kumar.

Five mobile phones, sim cards and a Mercedes car have been recovered from their possession, the SSP added.