Mumbai: Three policemen on patrol duty on Monday obediently alighted their vehicle to salute a senior cop smoking near a hotel at Kothari Compound in Thane, but soon spotted signs indicating that he was impersonating an assistant commissioner of police (ACP).
The accused, a resident of Girgaum, was arrested and his fake ID was seized. The Chitalsar Manpada police said that he probably used the identity to take advantage of gullible people. However, the reason is yet to be ascertained.
The police said that the man identified himself as VP Raut and said that he was posted at the State Intelligence Department, Director General of Police’s (DGP) office in Mumbai, and had come to the hotel for his daughter. Within minutes of conversing with him, the patrol team grew suspicious of his mannerism and called the DGP office and the hotel reception to verify the claims, only to find that he was lying.
Senior inspector Sulbha Patil said, “Raut’s detailed custodial interrogation will reveal how long this impersonation was underway and if he took advantage of his fake ID. We have arrested him and will inquire from where he got the police uniform and the ID card.”
Meanwhile, the police have registered a case under sections 170 (personating a public servant) and 171 (wearing garb or carrying a token used by a public servant with fraudulent intent) of the Indian Penal Code.
