Posing as Guv’s pvt secy, man lands in cops’ net

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 28

A 50-year-old imposter, who used to pose as the private secretary (PS) of the Punjab Governor and dupe liquor store owners, has been arrested by the UT police.

UT SSP Kuldeep Singh Chahal said a team, led by Inspector Ram Rattan, SHO of the Sector 17 police station, nabbed the accused, Gurnam Singh, a resident of Mundi Kharar village, who was a property dealer.

The SSP said the suspect used to pose as the private secretary of the Governor and extort costly whisky from liquor stores.

Complainant Kashmir Singh of Sector 23 had complained that the suspect went to a liquor store in Sector 16 on February 27 and extorted a box of 100 Pipers and Jack Daniels. Acting on the complaint, the police nabbed the suspect from Sector 22.

The police said the suspect had also extorted costly whisky from another liquor contractor.

“Earlier this month, he had extorted three boxes of wine from a contractor, Tushar, of Sector 31,” said a police official.

During the investigation, the police found that the suspect visited a showroom in Sector 17 on February 20 and took costly items, including a purse and belts, after posing as the Governor’s secretary. A case has been registered against him at the Sector 17 police station. The police have recovered two liquor boxes and a car used by him.

He was produced in a court today and remanded in one-day police custody.

The police said the car recovered from him was of an employee of a service centre in the Industrial Area. “The suspect had left his car for service and borrowed the car of the manager of that service centre to commit the crime so that he didn’t get caught,” said a police official.