A grocery store owner has been arrested for impersonating a cabinet minister from Madhya Pradesh and trying to influence the senior superintendent of police (SSP) Etawah in connection with an ongoing criminal case.
The accused, identified as Ankit Singh Parihar, a resident of Sahson Pirauli Garhia, allegedly impersonated Madhya Pradesh energy minister Pradyumna Singh Tomar and repeatedly called the SSP’s official number, seeking favourable action in a case registered at Sahson police station involving his brother Lokendra Singh alias Shivam. He also attempted to have the local station in-charge removed.
SSP Brijesh Kumar Srivastava stated that after receiving suspicious calls over two consecutive days, technical surveillance was initiated, which traced the caller’s location near the district magistrate’s residence. The suspicions were further confirmed when Ankit Singh Parihar, along with his mother and brother, visited the SSP’s office to lobby for the case. He was subsequently apprehended near Lion Safari.
In a revealing detail, the accused had saved his phone number under the name of energy minister Pradyumna Singh Tomar on the Truecaller app, even using the minister’s photograph, in an attempt to make his calls appear authentic.
A mobile phone recovered from the accused contained multiple images of Aadhaar card and other identity documents, indicating possible involvement in cyber-related offences. During interrogation, Parihar confessed to impersonating the minister in an attempt to protect his brother, who is an accused in a kidnapping case.
{{/usCountry}}A mobile phone recovered from the accused contained multiple images of Aadhaar card and other identity documents, indicating possible involvement in cyber-related offences. During interrogation, Parihar confessed to impersonating the minister in an attempt to protect his brother, who is an accused in a kidnapping case.
{{/usCountry}}Police also discovered forged identity cards of the UP police and fake credentials of the purported minister on the accused’s mobile phone. In a startling revelation, officials disclosed that the accused had previously contacted deputy chief minister Brajesh Pathak while posing as the minister, prompting the deputy CM to follow up with the SSP.
In 2018-19, Parihar had reportedly uploaded photographs of himself wearing a sub-inspector’s uniform as his Instagram profile picture, which led to a case being registered against him in Gwalior’s Maharajpur police station.
Parihar, who has a known criminal history, has been remanded to judicial custody.