Teen impersonates Gurugram top cop, asks police officers for money

Initially, police said, the probe pointed to the impersonator operating from Pauri Garhwal in Uttarakhand

The Gurugram police have filed a case and have begun investigations into the alleged impersonation of police commissioner Vikas Kumar Arora, officers aware of the matter said on Thursday.

A police team rushed to Pauri Garhwal to nab the suspect. Subsequently, the police detained a 19-year-old student of a local college and brought him back to Gurugram. (Representational Photo)

Investigators said the matter came to light on Monday, after several inspectors — whose official numbers are in the public domain — received messages over WhatsApp, asking for money. The police said that the impersonator used CP Arora’s photo as the display picture.

One of the officers targeted was traffic police inspector Indu Bala, said an investigator probing the case. “She contacted the CP’s office and made senior officers aware of the incident. Following this, she submitted a complaint and a first information report (FIR) was registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code at the cyber crime police station (east) on Tuesday,” he said.

Initially, police said, the probe pointed to the impersonator operating from Pauri Garhwal in Uttarakhand.

Deputy commissioner of police (cybercrime) Siddhant Jain said a police team rushed to Pauri Garhwal to nab the suspect. Subsequently, the police detained a 19-year-old student of a local college and brought him back to Gurugram.

“However, he turned out to be a student preparing to join the armed forces and didn’t have WhatsApp on his phone. We have sought WhatsApp’s help to trace the suspect who had access to the student’s phone number on the messaging app,” Jain said.

The investigator quoted above said the teenager had “never heard of CP Arora and had never visited Gurugram or Delhi”.

This development has left the police perplexed, and investigators have now written to WhatsApp, seeking help to trace the IP address of the device used to send the messages.

A senior officer posted in the CP’s office said they are aware of the matter, and investigators are taking necessary action to trace the impersonator. “The culprit will be taken to task soon,” the officer said, also on condition of anonymity.

Investigators said this is the second time in six months that someone has impersonated the Gurugram CP — on November 23, senior officers received messages on WhatsApp, asking them to purchase gift cards worth ₹50,000 and then send the codes to be redeemed. The messages were sent from a number that had the photo of Arora as the profile picture.

The investigation in that case is still on, said officers.