J&K Police name two associates of Gujarat conman as witnesses in case against him

The chargesheet was filed in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Srinagar, on May 2.

Amit Pandya is the son of Hitesh Pandya, a former additional public relations officer in the Gujarat Chief Minister’s Office, who resigned after the conman’s arrest.

Kiran Patel at Lal Chowk in Srinagar. (PTI/File)

Sources in the police told The Indian Express that both Pandya and Sitapara were questioned in Srinagar when Patel was arrested on March 3. They were allowed to leave for Ahmedabad on March 7, while Patel continues to remain at Srinagar’s Central Jail.

The chargesheet accuses Patel of “using security protocol/government vehicles” and of “impersonation and cheating”. On multiple visits to Kashmir, Patel allegedly masqueraded as additional director of strategy and campaigns in the Prime Minister’s Office.

According to the chargesheet, Patel’s main motive was to make money by facilitating contracts “through his contacts with officials in Jammu and Kashmir”. He would “receive a commission of 2-3% of the total project value from [the] businessmen”, it alleges.

Purported videos of Patel surveying the snow slopes of Gulmarg with a posse of armed security personnel around him and of a convoy of vehicles accompanying him weaving through a Valley town have been circulated widely across social media platforms. (Video screengrab/ @bansijpatel/ Twitter)

The chargesheet also says that by availing security cover, Patel wanted to “display his influence on his connections and businessmen to easily persuade, induce them and trick them into believing that he is very well-connected with bureaucrats” in J&K.

The police have cited statements from Pandya and Sitapara to build their case against Patel. “Both the witnesses have deposed in their statements that accused Al (Patel), duped/cheated both of them by deceitful means and intentional misrepresentation by stating that he will use his influence with bureaucrats in Jammu and Kashmir to help them in the expansion of their business in Kashmir,” the chargesheet says.

During the course of the investigation, it says, “seized mobile phones of accused A1 (Patel), along with PW4 (Sitapara) and PW5 (Pandya) were sent to FSL Gandhinagar, Gujarat for extraction of data and collection of electronic evidence”.

The police have highlighted that Patel visited Kashmir three times before he was detained for questioning.

According to the chargesheet, Patel had introduced himself to Trilok Singh, who sources said was an RSS functionary, as an IAS officer working in the PMO. He had handed Singh a visiting card with these credentials and claimed that he had been “assigned some government assignment by the PM for smooth conduct of election in Jammu and Kashmir”. Singh is also a witness in the case.

Former Deputy Commissioner of Pulwama Baseer ul Haq Choudhary and SSP Security Sheikh Zulafkar Azad have both been named as witnesses. Choudhary was transferred in the latest bureaucratic reshuffle on April 27, and was posted as Managing Director, Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited. Azad continues to hold the same post.

According to the chargesheet, the security protocol extended to Patel resulted in a “loss to the state exchequer”. Fuel charges during his “tour programme” alone was Rs 44,521.

As Patel’s call detail records were analysed, the chargesheet says, “it further revealed that a person namely Piyush Kantibhai Vasita (operator-cum-salesman of the computer shop Akanksha Creation Gujarat) was all along in touch” with him over the phone since January 2023. However, it says, Vasita’s involvement is still under investigation.

Patel was first questioned at a five-star hotel, where he was staying, on March 3. “The accused could not prove/justify his position/post in the said PMO office,” the chargesheet says. As he was being questioned, Patel, “under the pretext of using the washroom, tore down some visiting cards which were in his possession”. The shredded visiting cards were seized by the police.

After the questioning, calls were made to “high-standing senior officers” in other offices of the country to ascertain Patel’s claims but no record of any such official in the PMO was found, the chargesheet says.

Patel has been booked under IPC Sections 419 (cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record), 170 (impersonating a public servant), and 120B, criminal conspiracy. Additionally, Sections 3, 5 of Emblem and Names Act 1950 have also been invoked.