Two inmates of Nabha’s high security jail in Patiala district have been arrested for running a fake website in the name of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF).
The accused have been identified as Aman Kumar and Sunil Kalra, who were also involved in the infamous 2016 Nabha jailbreak case.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the accused were planning to run a fake recruitment drive of volunteers for rescue works from the jail as the website (sdrfindia.org) they were running is point-to-point copy of official website of the National Disaster Response Force. The phone numbers mentioned on the fake website were being operated from inside the jail.
Both the accused posed themselves as IPS officers on the SDRF website. While Aman masqueraded as additional director of the SDRF, Sunil Kalra claimed to be an IG-rank official.
“It came fore that they were planning to run a fake recruitment drive by charging ₹500 per volunteer. The website looked so real that even national signages and other links were copied,” said Nabha Kotwali SHO Surinder Bhalla.
He added that the matter came to light when police received information on June 17 about some mobile number running illegally from inside the jail. It was found that Aman was using the phone number following which he was brought on production warrant. During interrogation, he confessed to running a fake website along with Sunil, the SHO said.
{{/usCountry}}He added that the matter came to light when police received information on June 17 about some mobile number running illegally from inside the jail. It was found that Aman was using the phone number following which he was brought on production warrant. During interrogation, he confessed to running a fake website along with Sunil, the SHO said.
{{/usCountry}}It was found that Aman contacted a Hoshiarpur-based woman and introduced himself as an IPS officer working in the SDRF. “He also sent his photographs in police uniform to her to win her trust. The woman along with her brother, who is a website developer, prepared a website for Aman without knowing that they were falling in a trap. They arranged hosts so that the website could work for at least a year,” the SHO said.
A police official said the woman and her brother were paid ₹75,000 and fake receipts were issued. The money was sent to her through another accused, Himanshu Kakkar, who is Sunil’s cousin. He is yet to be arrested.
“The sister-brother duo told the police that they were not aware that Aman was committing a fraud as he submitted fake photographs and IDs to them,” said a senior official.
A case under Sections 170 (personating a public servant), 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating) of IPC and other sections of the Information Technology (IT) Act and the Prisons Act has been registered.
Habitual offender
Aman, a law graduate and a resident of Kurukshetra in Haryana, is a habitual offender as he was earlier arrested for impersonating as an IPS officer. More than 20 cases of impersonating top police officials in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh have been registered against him.
In 2014, Aman was arrested by Chandigarh Police for duping a woman of ₹35 lakh by posing as a CBI officer.