Kolkata/New Delhi: A woman, claiming to be a high-ranking official with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), was arrested in Delhi on Thursday after allegedly using a fake identity to gain access to the West Bengal state secretariat, Nabanna, a day before.
The woman is in her 30s. Identified as Akangsha Vidyarthi, she managed to secure a meeting with Ajay Poddar, the public works department minister of West Bengal on Wednesday afternoon under false pretences.
How she succeeded in getting past the heavy security at the entrance to the compound is not yet known.
During their conversation though Poddar grew suspicious of her inconsistent statements and began questioning her credentials. The woman then abruptly left the premises when she realised her cover was blown, as reported by The Indian Express.
The police were immediately informed by the minister’s staff. The Shibpur police launched a search and realised that she had already boarded a flight to Delhi.
The Shibpur police then filed charges against her, including impersonating a public servant, cheating by personation, and presenting forged documents. A team led by a woman officer travelled to Delhi overnight, located Akangsha at her central Delhi home on Thursday, and took her into custody.
“We are obtaining a transit remand to bring her back to Kolkata for further interrogation. We are currently looking into whether she had local accomplices and are verifying the authenticity of the credentials she used to secure the meeting,” a police official said.
This is not the first time that people impersonating PMO officials have been arrested.
A serious security breach occurred during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Mumbai last month after which two persons were arrested.
In another case, the Enforcement Directorate arrested Jammu-based businessman and newspaper founder-editor Vijay Gupta in Delhi on May 20 for allegedly posing as an influential PMO official and cheating people of more than Rs 4 crore by promising to get their work done.