The accused, Gagandeep Singh, who hails from Jammu, has been living in Offanengo, Italy since 2007 with his family.
By Inder Vashistha
Delhi Police has arrested a 22-year-old man for allegedly impersonating the vice-president of India and seeking favours from bureaucrats through WhatsApp.
Police said Monday that Gagandeep Singh, who had lived in Italy since 2007, created a fake WhatsApp account using a photo of the vice-president of India and sent messages to senior government officials seeking favours. Another accused, identified as Ashwani Kumar, was arrested for allegedly providing an OTP for the WhatsApp account to Gagandeep.
DCP (Intelligence Fusion & Strategic Operations) Prashant Gautam said the case was registered after police got information about the impersonation fraud, adding that details of the WhatsApp profile was obtained from the social media platform and that the sender’s internet protocol address was traced to Italy.
Police arrested Ashwani Kumar first and Gagandeep Singh later, from IGI Airport.
Before creating the WhatsApp account, Singh watched several YouTube videos and got the contacts of senior government officials online, according to the police officer.
The matter came to light after someone informed the police about the scam, following which a case was registered.
“Immediately, details of the impersonating WhatsApp profile were obtained from WhatsApp and the IP address of the sender was traced to Italy. The team started working on all technical aspects and conducted raids, following which a person identified as Ashwani Kumar, a resident of Samana in Punjab, was apprehended who had shared OTP with the imposter to create the WhatsApp account,” Gautam said.
During its investigation, police identified the main accused as an Indian national — Gagandeep Singh, who was living in Italy.
“The team collected details about the accused from Foreigners’ Regional Registration Office (FRRO), Banks and regional passport office and subsequently, the accused was apprehended from IGI airport,” the officer said.