Police probing VIP treatment to PM’s ‘advisor’

CHANDIGARH - The arrest of a man by the Jammu and Kashmir Police for posing as an adviser to the prime minister has left the Punjab Police and some Congress politicians in Punjab red-faced. Police is now probing the matter.

The Mohali police, which provided VIP security to the fake adviser of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (with the same name), including a pilot and escort jeeps to take him around, has now sought the help of the state police top brass to find the source of a fax that asked them to make all arrangements for the impostor.

“We have sent a communication to the additional DGP (director general of police) security in this regard. We received a fax message asking us to provide security and make other necessary arrangements for the visit of the PM’s adviser,” Mohali district police chief Gurpreet Singh Bhullar told IANS Thursday.

A senior Punjab Police official admitted that the lapse in providing security and other hospitality in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir was a major security breach in both states which are high-security zones.

The fake advisor’s luck ran out in Katra town in Jammu and Kashmir after officials there got suspicious of him. He was arrested by the police there Tuesday after the Prime Minister’s Office confirmed that there was no such advisor to the PM.

But the arrest happened only after he enjoyed the security and hospitality of the Kashmir government in visiting the famous Hindu shrine of Vaishno Devi.

In Punjab, the impostor not only got a government car with a red-beacon but also police security and escort during his visit to Mohali town, 10 km from here, this week and had officials and local Congress politicians lining up to receive and greet him.

Even Congress legislator from Mohali, Balbir Singh Sidhu, fell into the trap.

“I had got a call from a cloth merchant who told me that prime minister’s advisor was visiting his shop for a cup of tea. As I am a representative of Congress party in this area, therefore, it was my duty to show respect to PM’s envoy and I reached there to greet him,” Sidhu told IANS.

“On reaching there, I saw that a full-fledged pilot escort was accompanying him. They were even using red-light on his car. He was already getting VIP treatment and I could not make out that he was making a fool of everyone,” he said.

“I think that there is some major problem with the intelligence wing of Punjab police as this incident has raised serious questions over their competence. This fraud man was provided an escort immediately when he entered the boundary of Punjab,” he added.

Sources in the state government said that the impostor went around with the security and other facilities to Ludhiana and Amritsar cities in Punjab before going to Jammu and Kashmir.