A 32-year-old man from Assam’s Badarpur district who tried to dupe the superintendent of police (Cachar) by impersonating him was arrested on Sunday, police said.
The man identified as Jubair Ahmed, a resident of Kochikona area of Badarpur town in Karimganj, had allegedly opened an online mobile payment service account in the name of Cachar SP and used to collect money from various sources.
However, his luck ran out as he ended up calling the same senior police official who he was impersonating earlier.
According to police, the accused was returning home on Saturday evening when he called SP Cachar Numal Mahatta and addressed himself as SP Cachar.
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“I saw on the Truecaller that some ‘SP Silchar’ is calling me. I picked up the call and the man from the other side said he is the superintendent of police of Cachar district. I realised that it was a trap call, but I kept talking to him”, Mahatta said.
As Mahatta continued to speak with the accused, the cyber expert team of Cachar police started to trace the source of the phone call.
{{/usCountry}}As Mahatta continued to speak with the accused, the cyber expert team of Cachar police started to trace the source of the phone call.
{{/usCountry}}Police then traced the accused to his house on Saturday from where he was taken into custody.
According to Mahatta, a Google Pay account was being operated for a few months under SP Cachar’s name and the police received the information last month. He directed the authorities to close it several times but it didn’t work.
Despite Mahatta’s directives, the accused continued to collect money from that account.
Mahatta said that the man used to collect money, mostly from the people who were awaiting their passport verification.
“In the initial investigation, we have found that the man used to tell people that he will help them in getting passport easily. His charge for one passport was ₹5,000 and people used to pay him that amount,” Mahatta said.
According to officials of Cachar police, the verification of around 9,000 passport applications were pending and in the last 11 months, it has come below 1,000.
To ease fears, Cachar police conducted two passport melas and a large number of applicants participated in it. Some people were left out due to irregularities in their documents and people like Jubair tried to take advantage of this, police added.
The accused was brought to Cachar district on Sunday where he is being questioned by the authorities.
A case under relevant sections including 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Information Technology Act have been registered by the Cachar police, SP said.