Greater Noida: A woman in her early thirties has been arrested by police for impersonating herself as a senior Indian Foreign Services (IFS) officer and taking VIP facilities for the past two years. Cops said that woman had acquired a police escort vehicle and government gunner in lieu of her fake identity.
According to police, the woman has been identified as Zoya Khan, a native of Meerut district, Uttar Pradesh. She has been arrested along with her husband Harsh Pratap Singh, also from Meerut, from their present residence in Pristine Avenue Society of Gaur City 2 in Greater Noida West, said police officials.
Vaibhav Krishna, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Gautam Buddh Nagar told reporters that the matter came to light in March this year when she approached him for VIP facility. He also added that the woman had already availed police escort services and a gunner in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad, Meerut, Aligarh, Moradabad and Haryana's Gurgaon.
"The woman had approached me last month demanding police escort and other VIP facilities. As when we felt something to be suspicious, we conducted an enquiry and a raid was followed at her residence which revealed her real identity," said Krishna.
The officer further said that the accused had been conducting fraud from past two years by impersonating herself as Joint secretary with foreign ministry of Indian Government.
"Upon sustained investigations, it came to light that the woman had produced fake identity cards in the name of United Nation Security Council and had created an email id using proxy server through which she used to send emails to police chiefs and other senior IAS, IPS officers. We have also found a voice converter application in her mobile phone through which she used to change her voice into a male and demand VIP facilities from senior government officials posing as her personal assistant, Anil Sharma," added Krishna.
Police have recovered two cars with blue beacons atop them, a Mercedes and an XUV, with logos of the United Nations on bonnet. "A UN Security Council identity card, which showed her designation as Nuclear Policy Officer based at Washington DC, a diplomatic identity card by the UN State Department with Mission Afghanistan in Washington written on it, two laptops, a pair of walkie talkies and a fake pistol were also seized from them," said Krishna.
Sources said that Zoya's father is a doctor in Meerut and she has completed her masters in politics from Delhi University. Her husband, son of joint commissioner of police in Kanpur district, is a civil services aspirant and had left job of probationary officer with SBI bank.
A senior police officer said that the couple plotted conspiracy to masquerade as fake IFS officer after they failed PCS examinations a few years ago.