Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 17: A cheat was arrested from Talab Tillo Jammu for impersonating as an official of Chief Secretary’s office and thereby duping several senior officers of various departments.
The person, identified as Ashwani Bhardwaj, son of Shiv Kumar Bhardwaj of JMC Ward No. 39, House No 223, Mohalla Jhullka, Darbar Garh Jammu, duped and cheated lakhs of rupees from numerous senior officers of various departments by fraudulent means.
The fraudulent activities of accused Ashwani Bhardwaj came to light after Director Tourism, Kashmir, filed a complaint against the person who claimed to be an officer of personal section of Chief Secretary’s office and asked him to direct the Assistant Director Tourism, Leh to contact on his mobile No 9797578686. Accordingly Assistant Director Tourism, Leh, contacted the accused who asked the former to deposited Rs 10,000/- in A/c No. 36341661376 of SBI on the plea that some of his relatives are presently stucked in Leh and are in severe need of money and have no source of means there. Subsequently the Assistant Director Tourism, Leh, transferred an amount of Rs 10,000/- in the given account. Later on enquiry it came to fore that there is no such official in the personal section of Chief Secretary etc.
On receipt of this complaint, Crime Branch begun an enquiry based on preliminary information and it was found that the said accused has duped several other senior officers of J&K by impersonation and fraudulent means and cheated them worth lakhs of rupees. Accordingly, case FIR No 34/2019 U/s 170, 420 RPC was registered in Crime Branch Jammu and the investigation was entrusted to SI Hilal Azhar of CBJ. The accused Ashwani Bhardwaj was arrested by special team led by SI Hilal Azhar after hectic efforts under the supervision of SP Crime Mushtaq Choudhary. The accused is presently on police remand and involvement in other cases is being investigated.