Punjab Police constable held for impersonating as PA to Chief Minister

Punjab Police have arrested Constable Manjinder Singh for duping several persons by impersonating as a personal assistant (PA) to the Chief Minister, and using an app to falsely project him as a senior officer of various designations.

DGP Dinkar Gupta has directed Special DGP Punjab Armed Police to dismiss the constable, who has been found to be indulging in criminal acts and was acquitted in three different cases on earlier occasions. He was recruited as a constable in Punjab Police in 2006.

Gupta said the police initiated action after Vijay N Zade, Secretary Expenditure and Director Mining, informed that he had been getting calls from a person claiming that he was speaking from Chief Minister's residence. "When it was checked, it was found that no such person was on duty in CM's residence or office. However, The Truecaller (app) showed that the call had emanated from "CM house in Chandigarh", Gupta said.

An MBA, the suspect used to call various government officials, and often introduced himself as Kuldeep Singh, PA to Chief Minister of Punjab. He was making creative use of technology to shield his original identity, the DGP said, adding that the cop was apparently mpulating the Truecaller app to identify himself as someone from CM office Chandigarh, SSP Chandigarh, DC Muktsar, among others.

Eight mobile phones of various compes along with 12 SIM cards, have been recovered from the constable's possession. A car, copies of Aadhar, voter cards and mark sheets of other individuals have been also seized.

During preliminary investigations, Manjinder Singh has disclosed that he had been calling up various officers by posing as Kuldeep Singh, PA to CM Punjab.

A criminal case has registered against him at Police Station Tripuri, Patiala, said SSP Patiala Vikram Jeet Duggal.

Further investigation is underway.

( With inputs from ANI )