The Crime Branch of Pune Police has arrested a man posing as an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer posted with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
The impersonator, 54, was caught after he attended a programme organised by a charitable trust in Aundh earlier this week.
The arrested man has been identified as Vasudev Nivrutti Tayde, who posed as Dr Vinay Deo posted as a Deputy Secretary with PMO and claimed he was involved in work related to intelligence.
Pune City police officers said the Pune-based organisation Borderless World Foundation had organised a function in the Aundh area on Monday where an ambulance was to be sent to Jammu and Kashmir as a part of a charitable initiative.
Interestingly, an invitation was sent to ‘Dr Vinay Deo’ for the programme by a person known to the organisers. But when his claims of being a PMO official sounded suspicious to some of the people present at the event, they enquired about him and found discrepancies in his claims, a police officer said.
Tayde is known to have prepared for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exam in the past and has taken multiple attempts at clearing them. “Our probe suggests that Tayde has been booked in a similar offence of posing as a government official by the Dhule district police in 2000. We are now probing for how long he has been posing as an IAS officer and if there have been any breaches by him or if anyone has been cheated by him financially or otherwise,” a Crime Branch officer said.
Officials said Tayde left Dhule in the early 2000s after being booked for the offence of impersonation and later moved to Pune.
After a team from Unit 1 of the Crime Branch, launched a probe, they located Tayde and detained him for questioning. Tayde, a resident of Talegaon Dabhade, was arrested from his house.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Amol Zende said, “The initial probe suggests that the suspect had been moving around posing as an IAS officer. Some documents such as purchase bills with the name ‘Dr Vinay Deo’ were found in his possession. He used to attend public events and introduce himself as an IAS officer. We are investigating if he has cheated any more people or establishments by way of impersonation.”
Tayde has been booked under the Indian Penal Code sections pertaining to cheating and impersonation. The police have launched a probe into his past records, if any. (Indian Express)
