University professor impersonates Delhi LG for leave, sister’s job; held

Dependra Pathak, the special commissioner of police (law and order), said Rohit Singh, 30, an assistant professor of economics, was arrested on Monday.

An assistant professor at Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU) has been arrested for impersonating lieutenant governor VK Saxena — the ex-officio chancellor of the varsity — on two different occasions in September 2022, police officers aware of the case said on Wednesday.

Rohit Singh was arrested on Monday from the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport upon his arrival from the United Kingdom, where he had been since September. (Representational Image)

Dependra Pathak, the special commissioner of police (law and order), said Rohit Singh, 30, an assistant professor of economics, was arrested on Monday from the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport upon his arrival from the United Kingdom, where he had been since September. He was produced before court on Wednesday and was sent to judicial custody, the officer said.

“During preliminary questioning by police, Singh admitted that he called GGSIPU vice-chancellor Mahesh Verma twice over the landline, impersonating the LG. In the first instance on September 1, he got his study leave extended, and in the second instance on September 30, he impersonated the LG to get his sister Manvi Singh selected as a faculty in the English department of the university. However, she could not be selected as the VC raked up the issue with the LG secretariat,” Pathak said.

HT reached out to Verma, who is the complainant in the case, but he did not respond to queries for a comment on the case.

Officers in the LG secretariat said Saxena had taken an extremely serious view of the matter and emphasised that it has never been his style of functioning to make calls or entertain any request that involved out of turn favours, benefits or unethical practices. “He has also cautioned all concerned to strictly check with his secretariat in case of any such calls or messages received by them, from someone impersonating him or using his name,” said an official, asking not to be named.

Giving details of the investigation, Pathak said that Verma complained after receiving the second call, following which police perused the call detail record (CDR) of the vice-chancellor’s landline number, which revealed that the call was made from a UK-based number. “Upon investigation, it was further established that the said UK number also had call interactions with mobile numbers belonging to the said candidate, Manvi Singh and her father Rajpal Singh. Accordingly, the two were interrogated and it was confessed by them that the UK-based number belonged to Rohit Singh, who had proceeded to the UK on September 27, 2022. A look-out circular (LOC) was also issued against him,” the officer said.

The special CP said that upon his return, Singh was arrested at IGI airport and was produced before the Saket court, which granted his police custody. “On the expiry of his police custody on Wednesday, he was produced before the court again, which remanded him into judicial custody,” he said.