Fake BARC ‘scientist’ who travelled the world lands in police custody

A 55-year-old man, Akhtar Hussain Qutubuddin Ahmed, was arrested for posing as a BARC scientist and using fake IDs to travel and deceive others.

MUMBAI: A 55-year-old man who allegedly travelled the world posing as a scientist from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) has been remanded in police custody till October 24.

Fake BARC ‘scientist’ who travelled the world lands in police custody

The accused, identified as Akhtar Hussain Qutubuddin Ahmed, was arrested on Friday from his Versova home by the Mumbai Crime Branch’s Crime Intelligence Unit. Officers said two fake identity cards of the country’s premier nuclear facility were recovered from him — both bearing different names.

“One identity card was in the name of Alexander Palmer, and another as Ali Raza Hussain,” a police officer said. “Given his past, it was impossible for him to travel abroad under his real name, so he simply made new ones.”

Ahmed’s resume, however, appears to be more fiction than fact. The police said he had a long-standing fascination with physics and espionage and enjoyed introducing himself as a secret agent or nuclear expert. “He likes the idea of being a man with secrets,” an officer said. “Unfortunately, the only secret he’s keeping now is how he managed to get those BARC IDs.”

Investigators said Ahmed had earlier worked in the Gulf in oil and marketing firms and had been deported from Dubai in 2004. At the time, he was accused of trying to sell “sensitive information” about India. However, inquiries by the police, central agencies, and the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) had found nothing incriminating. Ahmed had then claimed he was “fixed” by an army officer following a business dispute.

In his latest act, police said, Ahmed used his fake scientist persona to meet foreign nationals, travel abroad, and even allegedly take money while claiming to have access to confidential material. Maps and other suspicious documents have also been recovered from him.

“We suspect he’s a smooth-talking fraud who never entered any high-security zone but made others believe he could,” a senior officer said. “Several central agencies are now verifying his claims.”