The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Tuesday filed a chargesheet against alleged conman Kiran Patel, a Gujarat resident who was arrested in Srinagar in March this year for impersonating an official of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
In the chargesheet, the police have detailed the expenses incurred by the J&K administration in providing security to Patel. “Documentary evidence collected with regard to the use of security cover by the accused person for which the expenditure only on fuel consumed during the tour is Rs 44,521, a loss incurred on the UT by the accused by deceit.”
Terming him a “conman” from Gujarat, the chargesheet states that Patel availed of security and duped gullible people “by impersonating as Additional Director (strategies and campaigns), PMO, New Delhi, within the jurisdiction of police station, Nishat, and other parts of zone Kashmir by employing a high degree of forged means”.
The list of evidence collected also notes statements of witnesses, “including senior officers of the UT”.
The chargesheet includes technical and documentary evidence regarding “cheating with Dr Hardik Chandrana by the accused who fraudulently induced him to pay for his visit to Kashmir and stay at Hotel Lalit, thereby causing wrongful monetary loss to him to the tune of Rs 1.5 lakh, as well as damage to his reputation”.
Chandrana and a Gujarati businessman, Amit Pandya, had accompanied Patel to Kashmir on one of his trips.
In the case against Patel, J&K Police has cited 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 (personating a public servant) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
Additionally, Sections 3 and 5 of the Emblem and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950 have also been invoked against Patel.
The accused travelled to Kashmir between September 2022 and March 2023, making visits with his associates and meeting officials of the J&K administration as well as functionaries of the BJP.
On March 29, the J&K administration constituted an inquiry and gave Divisional Commissioner (Kashmir) V K Bidhuri one week to probe “various aspects related to the visits of Kiran Patel to Kashmir in the past months and security arrangements made thereof”. He was tasked with identifying the lapses on the part of officers/officials concerned; this report is yet to be released.
Meanwhile, Patel remains lodged in the Srinagar central jail.
On March 2, J&K Police released a statement claiming that their CID wing gave information about the arrival of an impersonator in Kashmir. “The particulars of this person were found as Kiran Bhai Patel, a resident of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, who was impersonating Additional Director (strategy and campaigns), PMO, New Delhi”, the police said. During questioning, Patel’s replies were “found suspicious”. He was taken to Nishat police station wherein he admitted to his crime. Ten fake visiting cards and two mobile phones were seized from him.
Patel was arrested on March 3 and at least two of his associates were also questioned in the case.
