RAW asst director’ arrested

NEW DELHI, JUNE 29: After duping the Chandigarh Police last year and having convinced them, at least for a few days, that he was an IPS of...

NEW DELHI, JUNE 29: After duping the Chandigarh Police last year and having convinced them, at least for a few days, that he was an IPS officer posted to the Union Territory from New Delhi, a 23-year-old gave six others in the Capital a raw deal. Posing as an Assistant Director of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), he promised them jobs in the secret service and even took them on an official trip to Agra to “probe match-fixing”.

Pradeep Singh Negi, a resident of Mayur Vihar, begun with duping his family. Having told them that he had been selected in the Indian Police Service (IPS), he moved to Chandigarh last year and tried to sell the same card to Chandigarh Police, officials here said. “He managed to convince them that he was an undertraining IPS officer and even got himself a Gypsy and a PSO,” DCP (Economic Offences Wing) D.K. Bhatt said. He added that Negi was finally arrested by the police in Chandigarh and a case registered against him.

“He then duped his parents into getting him bail by telling them that he was working for the Secret Service. The idea struck him when he overheard two constables discussing that he might be an IB official and could get everyone into trouble,” a senior official said.

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Negi, reportedly confessed to the police that he chose to potray himself as a RAW officer because job seekers would not ask too may questions. “Besides, he says, RAW became a popular name during the Kargil war last year,” the official added.

In all, Negi is said to have taken Rs 1.8 lakh from various people for the jobs he promised them. He stayed at Hotel Rajdoot in Jangpura and later in Hotel Bieu Fort in Nizammudin, from where the police arrested him. Officials revealed that Negi owes several thousands in hotel bills too. Among those he cheated is his girlfriend’s brother, sources added.

“He would hold meeting with the victims in the CGO complex canteen and tell them not to talk about their jobs owing to the secret nature of their work. He even took them to Agra and put them up in a hotel saying that they would be investigating match-fixing,” an official said.

Officials revealed that Negi is also being interrogated by RAW officials along with the police.