Delhi: Civil engineer held for impersonating OSD to Union home minister

The impersonator was arrested from his house in Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut by a team of the New Delhi cyber cell unit, based on a complaint filed by a representative of the private company, said police

The Delhi Police on Sunday arrested a 48-year-old civil engineer for impersonating himself as an officer on special duty (OSD) to Union home minister Amit Shah, officials said.

(Representative Photo)

Police said that the accused, taking advantage of his ‘fake position’, also issued directions to officials of a private company to appoint himself as senior associate vice president (senior AVP)-cum-project coordinator for the Ganga Expressway project.

The impersonator was arrested from his house in Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut by a team of the New Delhi cyber cell unit, based on a complaint filed by a representative of the private company, said police.

New Delhi additional deputy commissioner of police (ACP) Hemant Tiwari said that the cyber police station recently received a complaint from Akshat Sharma, a representative of a private company, alleging that an email was received at the company’s official email from a fake account, wherein the sender impersonated Rajeev Kumar, OSD to Union home minister.

The impersonator passed instructions to appoint one Robin Upadhyaya as senior associate vice president-cum-project coordinator for the ongoing Ganga Expressway project. Accordingly, a case was registered, and the investigation was taken up, the additional DCP said.

“During the probe, it was found that the alleged email id rajeev.osd.mha@gmail.com was created around a week before the email was sent. Based on technical surveillance, the team zeroed in on the prime suspect, identified as Robin Upadhyay in Meerut. The suspect was subsequently traced and based on initial interrogation he was arrested,” added Tiwari.

Upon interrogation, Tiwari said, Upadhyay disclosed that he is an engineer by profession and has a vast experience in civil construction projects. But at present, was unemployed.

He thought that if a reference is given from a high-ranking official or ministry, he can get a job at the earliest, the accused revealed, according to Tiwari. Hence he searched the ongoing highway projects and their progress.

After that, the accused created an email id impersonating as one Rajeev Kumar, OSD to the Union home minister, and sent an email to the company giving instructions for his own appointment with his biodata attached, showing his credentials to get the job, said the additional DCP.