Bhubaneswar, Oct 5 (IANS) The Commissionerate Police have arrested two notorious inter-state fraudsters impersonating the officials of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) following a raid at a hotel in Bhubaneswar, Police Commissioner S. Dev Datta Singh said here on Sunday.

The accused persons were identified as Choudhury Rinku Saini, 36, of Karnal district and Maninder Singh, 39, of Sonipat district in Haryana.

The accused Saini identified himself as the chairman of the commission under the MHA while mentioning Maninder as his Personal Assistant (PA).

“We received a communication purportedly from the MHA of the Union government with instructions to provide pilot protection and other security arrangements to the accused, mentioning them to the National Chairman of Social Justice and Women Empowerment Commission. After reading the communication, we suspect that no such commission exists under the MHA. We sent the letter to the MHA asking whether it had been issued by the Ministry. Following the receipt of MHA’s reply denying issuing the letter, we kept track of the accused and finally arrested them,” Singh added.

He also said that during interaction with their counterparts in Haryana, the police also found the involvement of the fraudsters in some cheating cases in Haryana as well.

Bhubaneswar Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Jagmohan Meena, said that a case has been registered at the Maitri Vihar police station in this regard under various sections related to cheating and forgery.

He also revealed the accused used to send their tour details on the official email of the government to get escort, pilot services as per the protocol.

Following verification with the Indian government, the police found that there is no such national-level commission by the name “National Commission for Social Justice and Women Empowerment” under the MHA or the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

It was found that the accused Choudhury Rinku Saini does not hold any statutory position in any Commission of the Union government.

“Prima facie, the ID cards and letters produced by him were found to be forged, and discrepancies were noted in the designation. By impersonating senior Indian government officials and using forged documents, the accused persons committed forgery with the intention of cheating,” the Commissionerate Police told in a press note.

The duo was arrested on Sunday while policemen have seized forged letters and other documents used by them.

The police suspect that they may have cheated various individuals by claiming themselves to be chairman and PA from a national-level commission under the MHA.

The Bhubaneswar DCP, on Sunday, also urged the citizens through the media that anyone who got cheated by the accused fraudsters to contact their nearest police station.

–IANS

gyan/khz