Fined for ticketless travel, man impersonates MP Deputy CM to get back penalty amount, free train journey
Surat GRP has arrested Ranjeet Yadav, 21, after booking him under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 204 (Personating as a public servant) and 319 (2) (Cheating by personation)
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Accused Yadav and RPF SI Singh (R) who nabbed himLast Friday, Kuldeep Singh, an RPF sub-inspector posted at the Surat Railway Station, received a call on his mobile phone. It was 9.10pm and the caller asked him to “release” an individual who had been nabbed earlier in the day for ticketless travel. The person also asked Singh to not only get the penalty amount refunded to the traveller but also make travel arrangements for him.
More than the request, the peculiar identity of the caller struck Singh as odd: The man on the other end identified himself as Rajendra Shukla – the Deputy Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh – stating that the ticketless traveller, Ranjeet Yadav, was an acquaintance.
On checking, Singh found that though Yadav had been caught by the police for travelling without ticket in a superfast train, he had been let off after he paid up the penalty amount.
After investigation, police found that the man identifying himself as the MP Deputy CM was Yadav himself who had spun the story in order to get back the money he had paid as fine as well as to get a free trip to his destination.
On Sunday, Surat GRP arrested Yadav after booking him under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 204 (Personating as a public servant) and 319 (2) (Cheating by personation).
The FIR stated that after the 9.10pm call, the caller dialled up Singh again at 9.30 pm, threatening him and inquiring about Yadav’s whereabouts. Singh told the caller that he had left the railway station for the day and requested him to share Yadav’s number, said the FIR.
This proved to be Yadav’s undoing.
On checking the WhatsApp number given, Singh found a photo of MP Deputy CM Shukla as his display picture. Singh called up Yadav who told the officer that he was at his friend’s house in Surat. Singh told him to come to the RPF office on August 30.
The next morning, Singh once again got a call in which the person impersonating Shukla asked him to recharge Yadav’s mobile phone, stated the FIR.
As Singh’s suspicion grew, he thoroughly questioned Yadav who confessed that it was him who had made all the calls identifying himself as the MP politician.
Singh said, “Yadav was the same person who called me posing as Deputy Chief Minister of MP. The purpose of doing such a thing was to get back the money he lost as a penalty. He also wanted us to make arrangements for free travel to Bhusaval in Maharashtra by train from Surat.”
Surat GRP inspector Hiral Vyas said, “We have arrested the 21-year-old conman, who is a resident of Satna district in Madhya Pradesh. He has several numbers on his phone which were saved as that of ministers and bureaucrats. We have cross-verified his statements and found them to be fake. Ranjeet is a house painter by profession. We are trying to dig out more details from him.”
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