Conman Arrested For Posing As Top Bureaucrat, Enjoying Security Cover

SRINAGAR — The Jammu and Kashmir Police arrested a man posing as an ‘additional secretary’ in the Centre and enjoying security cover besides other hospitalities.

Kiran Patel, who was given the cover on request of a Kashmir DC, was nabbed by alert security officials on March 3 from a five-star hotel in the union territory.

According to court documents, Kiran Patel, who hails from Gujarat, was on his third visit to the Kashmir valley.

Patel had claimed he had been given mandate by the government to identify buyers for apple orchards in south Kashmir and a couple of IAS officers were in awe of him as he had been dropping names of high-ranking bureaucrats and politicians in the national capital.G

He was produced before a court in the valley last evening for extension of his police remand. A case under relevant sections of cheating and forgery was registered against him on March 2 and he was arrested the next day.

During his earlier visit, he had travelled to tourist hotspot Gulmarg claiming that the government had tasked him to look for improvement of hotel facilities in the area.

Security agencies got suspicious after he landed at the airport on March 2 as there was no information of any VIP movement.

An attempt was made to stop him at the airport but this could not fructify as he had already stepped into a bullet-proof car on the way to the hotel.

After his questioning and subsequent arrest, security officials recovered forged identity cards from his possession, the documentsG said. — (PTI)