UP minority panel member held for fraud

Ghaziabad: Afzal Chaudhary, a member of the Uttar Pradesh Minority Commission, was sacked on Thursday by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and, on Friday, arrested on charges of forgery and impersonation.

Ghaziabad Senior Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Krishna told media persons on Friday that Chaudhary would at times "pull up" government officials as well as District Magistrate Ritu Maheshwari on the telephone, pretending to be former Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha or Gujarat leader Shankarsinh Vaghela or Ashok Bhan, an MLA and son of former Uttar Pradesh Governor Suraj Bhan.

On one occasion, Chaudhary even impersonated Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma, Krishna said.

Cops eventually became suspicious after the calls were traced to Mumbai."Once, he spoke to me on telephone very rudely to get two road rage accused Jan Mohammad and Abid freed from police custody. The two had thrashed an UP State Road Transport Corporation conductor and driver."

Similarly, Maheshwari was also told to settle a land dispute in Masuri area in favour of a retired officer. "Our investigation showed that the accused used to impersonate different people to get illegal works done," Krishna added.

On Thursday night, however, Chaudhary was nabbed from near BSNL office in Raj Nagar District Centre, Ghaziabad.

A Mercedes car, a mobile phone and five SIMs were recovered from him and an accomplice was arrested.

"During sustained interrogation, he revealed his identity as Afzal Chaudhary. A criminal case has been registered against him and his accomplice. A reward of Rs 5,000 has been given to the police team for their good work," the senior police official said.