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Karnataka man posed as PGIL engineer in Assam, arrested: Police
Karnataka resident Md Hayat Khatib, 37, used fake documents to show that he worked with PGCI and had developed friendships with some army officers
GUWAHATI:
A 37-year-old man from Karnataka’s Hubli has been arrested in Assam’s Tinsukia on charges of using forged documents to pose as an engineer with Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCI), police said on Friday.
Md Hayat Khatib, 37, was arrested on Thursday by the district police along with an Indian Army team that had been tracking him in Tinsukia, a busy commercial town in Upper Assam 500km from Guwahati.
Khatib was in the district with his 24-year-old wife, a resident of Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri.
Initial investigation shows that Khatib used fake documents to show that he worked with PGCI and had developed friendships with some army officers. He and his wife visited Tinsukia several times and were staying in the hotel since August 16.
“Khatib used to claim to army officers that he was handling corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds of PGCI and could provide them with sums ranging from ₹1-2 lakh to around ₹20 lakhs,” said Tinsukia superintendent of police Debojit Deuri.
“His claims led to suspicions among some army officers who tracked his movements for a few days. Once it was proved that he was not employed with PGCI, we arrested him on Thursday,” he added.
Police officers stressed that there was no evidence at the moment that Md. Hayat Khatib was a Pakistani agent as suggested in some local media reports. His investigation and interrogation will reveal more details, they said.
“Khatib was presented in a local court on Friday and remanded in police custody for four days. He is charged with cheating by impersonation and using forged documents. However, the identity documents of his wife have been found to be genuine and she has not been sent on remand,” said Tinsukia police station in-charge Parag Jyoti Borgohain.
