NEW DELHI: A young man who along with his father allegedly cheated people of crores of rupees by posing as a journalist and a senior officer of a Government intelligence agency has been arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch. The police claim to have recovered incriminating documents from their Seemapuri office in North-East Delhi.

The EOW recently received a complaint from a businessman, Madhur Goyal, alleging that Kislay Pandey, who claimed that he was an officer on special duty with a Government organisation named Crime Analysis Bureau, had cheated him of Rs.30,000 on the pretext of awarding him a contract for some construction work.

Mr. Goyal received an e-mail from Kislay to carry out aluminium panelling and glasswork in a building at Media Colony in North-East Delhi. Kislay and his father Ram Mani Pandey allegedly told him that the Crime Analysis Bureau came directly under the Home Ministry and it functioned like the Intelligence Bureau. The father and son duo took Rs.30,000 from Mr. Goyal as security deposit for the contract.

After the work amounting to Rs.14 lakhs was completed, the accused demanded Rs.1 lakh for "work completion certificate" for approval of payments. When Mr. Goyal insisted that his bills be cleared, the accused said they were found incorrect and that the Home Ministry had referred them to the EOW for inquiry. They then demanded Rs.70,000 from him to deal with the matter, at which Mr. Goyal enquired from one of the Crime Analysis Bureau staffers and learnt that it was a private organisation.

On the basis of the complaint, a case was registered at the Seemapuri police station. The police raided the Crime Analysis Bureau office and arrested Kislay. They recovered fake identity cards showing him and his father as journalists, and quotations of various renowned companies.

The police found that to give it a look of a Government office, the accused had hired six retired persons for Rs. 2,000 each to just sit in the premises as peons. They also employed armed guards and installed a doorframe metal detector at the entrance. The accused would claim that their head office was situated at Police Headquarters in ITO and while communicating with various companies they would use designations like Joint Director Vigilance, Director Administration or Joint Director Intelligence to pose as Government officials.

During interrogation, the 21-year-old Kislay allegedly disclosed that the quotations were procured from renowned companies to show them to prospective victims to convince them that Crime Analysis Bureau was a Government organisation. Employing a similar modus operandi, the accused had cheated a company, Innovative Interiors of Ghaziabad, of Rs. 45 lakhs.

Enquiries revealed that Kislay's father had been involved in two previous cases, one probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation for cheating Punjab National Bank of Rs.2.88 crores. He is also facing prosecution in several cases under the Negotiable Instruments Act. He along with his son ran two fake companies, Katyayani Group of Industries and Ratnapriya Diamonds and Jewels to cheat people.

Kislay has been remanded to three-day police remand. A hunt has been launched for his father.

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