Neighbours know the Tiwaris as “a family of government employees”, largely because Mayank alias Maayank Tiwari’s father worked with the BSNL. Tiwari was arrested Tuesday by the CBI for allegedly posing as a PMO (Prime Minister’s Office) official and threatening a renowned eye hospital in Chennai to settle a 2022 dispute with an Indore hospital. During the Covid pandemic, Tiwari (45) used his fake identity to get oxygen and beds from friends, according to police. On Wednesday a CBI team was at the Tiwari home at Randhal Dham Society in Vadodara’s posh New Sama Road neighbourhood for further investigations. The two-storey bungalow combining two tenement units has exclusive access to the main road, neighbours say. The CBI, with the Vadodara city police’s assistance, searched Tiwari’s house and questioned his family members including his father Parshuram. A chargesheet was filed against Tiwari in Vadodara after he was booked in June for allegedly securing admission, while posing a PMO official, for two children in a city-based school and urging its trustee Gitika Patel, of Parul University, to “invest” in educational projects. Police officials in Vadodara said that Tiwari had been on their radar for over a year, especially since Chirag Panchal, an under secretary to the Government of India, alerted the CBI about a case of impersonation. Panchal is also the complainant in the CBI FIR filed on October 16 in a case of financial mediation between the two hospitals that Tiwari. “He had been on the radar of agencies since September 2022, when the PMO flagged the likely impersonator in the Indore hospital case. but there had been no complaint against him until June, when Waghodia-based Parul University filed a complaint in another case.,” said a police officer. Tiwari's LinkedIn profile describes him as “Director, Government Advisory-Strategies and New Initiatives”. “Goal driven and accomplished Sales and Technical Director with a proven record of delivering target revenues and growing account bases. Multidimensional leadership capabilities over multiple functions and executive roles: sales management, business development, strategic partnerships, channel and ecosystem development, sales and strategy development,” the profile reads further. It describes his area of work as “development of new markets in government and business partnerships. Currently play a highly influential role”. In June, Tiwari was arrested by the Waghodia police under Indian Penal Code Sections for criminal breach of trust (406), cheating (420) and for pretending to be a public servant and attempting to do any act under the colour of such office (170). The FIR was lodged following a complaint by Chandrashekhar Dadich, a staff member of Vadodara-based New Era School, which is run by Parul University and where Gitika Patel is a trustee. The FIR in the case, in which Tiwari has already been chargesheeted, states that he approached the school in March 2022 seeking admission for two children of his friend, whom he introduced as a lieutenant colonel in the Indian Army, and that he claimed his wife was an employee of the prestigious MS University in Vadodara. Superintendent of Police Rohan Anand told The Indian Express that during the primary interrogation, Tiwari admitted to have first used the fake identity for “helping friends” during the Covid-19 pandemic. Anand said, “The accused has been living in Vadodara since his childhood as his father, a retired BSNL officer, moved to the city from their native place in Uttar Pradesh about 45 years ago. Maayank Tiwari has worked in consultancy firms and has a knack for convincing people. He has told us that he began using the fake identity during the Covid-19 pandemic to get oxygen and beds for his friends and it worked.” Later, Anand said, he also started using the identity for other purposes. “We did not come across any leads that hinted at his involvement with government officials or any actual crime proceeds or benefits from this impersonation. His wife or other family members, too, do not seem to be involved in his activities,” the police officer said. Anand added that Patel had not made any financial transactions to Tiwari before ascertaining his identity, during which it was known that he was not a PMO official. As per the complaint, Tiwari sent messages on WhatsApp to the school management introducing himself as the “director of strategic advisory and director of government advisory” in the PMO and sought admission for two children in Classes 2 and 3 at New Era School in Nizampura. “Between March 8 and 17, 2022, he also visited the campus of Parul University in Waghodia to meet our trustee, Gitika Patel, and spoke of having projects for ‘education research’ in Gujarat, for which he offered to seek permissions and approvals if the trustee (Gitika Patel) was willing to make investments,” the FIR stated. The FIR added that Tiwari “persuaded and convinced” Patel to consider making a huge financial investment. However, the university found out the truth soon. “Our trustee informed us two days ago that during a private probe into Tiwari’s background, it came to light that he did not work at the PMO as he claimed. We also learnt that he is a resident of Vadodara city but his professional details could not be ascertained. By providing a fake identity of a government official, not only did he attempt to be an impostor to cheat our trustee and cause financial loss, but also attempted to damage the country’s image with a criminal conspiracy,” it stated. A staff member of Parul University who had interacted with Tiwari said, “He spoke in flawless English and had an imposing personality, the kind you associate with officials having power. He seemed very confident and even had a display picture of the Ashoka stambh on his WhatsApp number along with his fake designation in the status. He had some impressive ideas for projects in the field of education that had appealed even to Gitika Patel.” A neighbour of the Tiwaris—who occupy the two upper floors of the bungalow while the ground floor is leased out—said, “We have never interacted with Maayank Patel. The family is mild-natured and do not get involved much as they have separate access to their house from the main road. Maayank kept to himself and they lived a decent life. We all knew them as a family of government employees, especially since his father was in the BSNL and we had heard that Maayank was also working in a government department. They have never used their identity within the society.” Tiwari’s is the third high-profile case, after those of Kiran Patel and Sanjay Sherpuria—both from Ahmedabad—where a person claiming to be a PMO official has duped people.
