The Crime Branch of the Delhi Police on Monday arrested a 25-year-old man for allegedly impersonating two government officers to extort money. Police said Shiv Shankar, who holds a PhD, allegedly impersonated an Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer and an Assistant Private Secretary (APS) of the Minister of State (Home) under two different names. According to police, Shankar was arrested after police received a complaint from the office of Puran Singh, the officer on special duty to the Minister of State (Home). Singh told police that he had received several threat calls between October 20 and October 27 from two people — Shiv Shankar and Shiv Kumar. According to Singh’s complaint, the caller claimed that inquiries were being conducted against Singh for black money procured during his tenure. The caller also asked Singh to meet him at Gate No. 3 of MHA, North Block, to settle the matter, Singh told police. “After the complaint was forwarded, a verification was conducted by the Minister of State (Home) and it was found that no officer by the name of Shiv Shankar or Shiv Kumar worked in the office. The complaint was then forwarded to the Crime Branch,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ravindra Yadav said. “A team was formed to nab the accused and he was arrested,” Yadav said. Police said during questioning, Shankar confessed to his involvement in the crime. Two mobile phones and documents used by him to pose as an IB officer were recovered from his possession, police said. “The accused claimed that he completed his PhD from RML University in Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh. He had also appeared for various competitive exams for government services, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Delhi University. But he failed. He has also worked with NGOs in the education field and wanted to start an IAS Academy, for which he needed funds. He claimed that he started blackmailing and threatening government officials to earn easy money,” Yadav said. “He even told his in-laws that he was an IB officer. His wife was not aware of his false identity. He has been arrested and we are trying to trace those he cheated. Investigation is on,” a police officer said.
