Man posing as retired IPS officer dupes Ghaziabad cops; two arrested
The Ghaziabad police have arrested a 68-year-old man from Greater Kailash in Delhi who allegedly impersonated a retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer in order to seek favours for an associate who is booked in a cheating case, officers said on Thursday.
The officers identified the accused as Anil Katiyal and his associate as Gurugram resident Vinod Kapoor, 69. Both were arrested by staffers from the Sahibabad police station on Thursday, investigators said.
Giving details of the case, police said Katiyal on November 14 reached out to Ghaziabad police officers and met deputy commissioner of police (trans-Hindon) Nimish Patil as well as police commissioner Ajay Kumar Mishra, allegedly in an attempt to get a favourable outcome in a case registered against Kapoor on August 30 at the Indirapuram police station.
“Katiyal introduced himself as a retired IPS officer of 1979 batch (Manipur cadre). During meetings with officers, he claimed he had contacts with high-ranking bureaucrats and other officials. He also introduced himself as an advisor with the Union ministry of home affairs,” said DCP Patil.
Katiyal also allegedly impressed upon Ghaziabad police officers that he had worked with the Intelligence Bureau (IB), while Kapoor allegedly threatened the investigating officers (IOs) in the Indirapuram case that he would implicate them in a false case in order to disrupt the case against him.
To be sure, the two IOs were suspended, though DCP Patil attributed the action against them to their not following operating procedure.
Officers said they first got suspicious about Katiyal when he and Kapoor showed “undue eagerness” and got clicked their pictures with the police top brass.
“We checked up his (Katiyal’s) identity, but it was not established. Later, we got in touch with officials he spoke about, who denied knowing him,” the DCP said.
Later, on November 20, a first information report was filed at the Sahibabad police station under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 308(6) (extortion), 221 (obstructing public servant), 204 (personating a public servant), 318(4) (cheating) and 3(5) (common intention).
“Katiyal and Kapoor were arrested… We have recovered incriminating evidence from his (Katiyal’s) phone which indicate that he performed similar tactics with senior police officers from Delhi and Haryana, excise department officials in Delhi, and also with officials in MHA. We are analysing the details and action will be taken up,” additional commissioner of police Dinesh Kumar P said.
