Imposter who jumped bail to cheat people back in police net

A 51-year-old woman, who cheated people by posing as an officer on special duty (OSD) in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), was arrested on Tuesday. HT reports.

A 51-year-old woman, who cheated people by posing as an officer on special duty (OSD) in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), was arrested on Tuesday.

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The crime branch of Delhi Police said Sumangali Francina Esther Charles alias Suman Singh, had called EK Bharat Bhushan, director general of civil aviation, and asked him to help one Captain Amar Singh, a pilot who was barred from flying on account of a suspected fraud in obtaining licence. She had introduced herself as the OSD in PMO, police said.

The police are trying to establish the link between the pilot and the woman. Efforts are on to apprehend him, police said.

Sandeep Goel, joint commissioner of police (crime branch), said the woman from Hyderabad, who is married to a Delhi-based builder, was apprehended from IGI airport after landing from Chennai.

The arrest came following a month-long investigation into a complaint filed by Bhushan after he found that the woman is a habitual offender.

"The woman had called on my office two or three times asking me to meet a pilot. I met that pilot but found something fishy," Bhushan told Hindustan Times.

"By that time I had obtained the woman's number and called her. She was very confident while talking to me but when I asked her to meet me, she disconnected the phone and never called back. I made a complaint after that," he said.

After a case was registered, police investigations revealed that the woman was arrested in 2003 in a similar case.

She had impersonated the additional private secretary to then deputy prime minister LK Advani and had called the customs commissioner asking for a favour. Later, during the trial of the case she had jumped bail and was declared an absconder in October 2011.