Man posing as PMO official in Kashmir sent to judicial custody, three cases against him in Gujarat
Srinagar, Mar 17: Kiran Bhai Patel, who posed as a PMO official and got the requisite perks, including a bulletproof car and scores of security personnel, had three cases registered against him in his home state Gujarat, police said on Friday.
He was arrested here on March 3 but his deception that tricked security forces of the high security zone that is Jammu and Kashmir has come to light only now. Patel was in police custody until Friday and has now been sent to jail for 14 days, officials said.
The story of the alleged conman from Gujarat unravelled earlier this month when he visited Kashmir for the third time, each time passing himself off as Additional Director (Strategy and Campaigns) Prime Minister's Office, New Delhi.
Three cases under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including cheating, forgery and breach of trust, dating back to 2017 are registered against him in police stations in Ahmedabad and Baroda, police said.
Purported videos of Patel surveying the snow slopes of Gulmarg with a posse of armed security personnel around him and of a convoy of vehicles accompanying him weaving through a Valley town have been circulated widely across social media platforms.
He had even visited the last post at Uri in north Kashmir, posing for pictures at a bridge treated as a Line of Control between India and Pakistan.
In a statement, police said the CID wing of Jammu and Kashmir Police gave information on March 2 about the arrival of an impersonator who had checked into the Hotel Lalit Grand in Srinagar.
Detailing what had happened, the statement said Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rakesh Balwal sent a team to the hotel. He was identified as Kiran Bhai Patel, son of Juddesh Bhai Patel, a resident of Ahmedabad. He was questioned but his replies were found to be suspicious and he was taken to a police station in Nishat close by where he made a confession, police said.
Ten fake visiting cards and two mobiles were seized from him.
According to police, Patel held several meetings with Jammu and Kashmir bureaucrats, selling them dreams of boosting apple production, engaging youth in national building and holding seminars to give a fillip to the horticulture industry.
However, everyone asked Patel to come through official channels for the earmarking of funds for the so-called projects being offered by him, officials said.
He has cases filed under various IPC sections for cheating and forgery at the Nishat police station.
During an earlier visit, Patel travelled to Gulmarg, claiming the government had tasked him to look at improvement of hotel facilities in the area, officials said.
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Indigo flights chaos: SCR to run special trains to clear passenger rush
Hyderabad (PTI): The South Central Railway on Saturday announced that it would run four special trains to manage the surge in passengers resulting from the large-scale cancellation of IndiGo flights here.
The move comes as flyers face significant disruption and long queues at the airport due to the cancellation.
A press release from the SCR said it is running the special trains to clear the extra rush of passengers to Chennai, Mumbai and Shalimar (Kolkata) from Hyderabad today.
Meanwhile, as many as 43 outbound Indigo flights were cancelled from here on Saturday, Rajiv Gandhi International Airport sources said.
ALSO READ: IndiGo cancels over 200 flights from Delhi, Mumbai on Saturday
Similarly, 26 incoming flights are also likely to be cancelled during the day, they said.
The flight cancellations drew ire from passengers, who thronged the IndiGo counters at the airport demanding to know the exact situation.
“This is utter nonsense! Digiyatra done, message received that departure has been rescheduled ahead of the scheduled departure and now upon arriving at Hyderabad airport coming to know at the security checkpoint that Indigo flight is cancelled,” Tarun Singha, former Ministry of Defence spokesperson said in a post on X.
“But the thing is if you don’t shout they do nothing. Example at Hyderabad Airport, there was no staff no flight information for an hour. Then a fellow passenger started shouting on mic and an Indigo staff appeared finally,” a netizen said in a post.
On Friday, when IndiGo cancelled over 1,000 flights from across airports, its CEO Pieter Elbers apologised in a video message for the major inconvenience caused to passengers due to the disruptions.
In the one-way video communication, Elbers also said that the airline was expecting fewer than 1,000 flights on Saturday.
