Fake MI call: Army jawan to first face departmental probe
Soumitra Bose | TNN | Nov 26, 2018, 03:38 ISTNagpur: Naik Hawaldar Pankaj Yergude, posted with the Army Service Corps at Yol in Himachal Pradesh, is set to face an inquiry by his own department for his hoax calls that set off a manhunt for non-existent ISI agents in the city. The city police team, which had gone to Yol for investigation, returned to the city on Sunday.
The confirmation of the Army inquiry puts to rest speculation regarding Yergude’s fate. City police had registered offences of impersonation against him at Ganeshpeth police station for allegedly making fake calls. The city police have officially communicated to the Army about the case registered by them against Yergude, providing details of actions kicked off by the jawan’s prank.
The cops have also let the Army know that they have no objection to the inquiry by Yergude’s department.
Yergude, posing as ‘Major Pankaj of Military Intelligence (MI)’, had told city police there had been communications with Karachi via satellite phones by unidentified callers from sensitive locations within the city. This had put in motion the anti-sabotage mechanism of the city police.
Following Yergude’s calls on November 8, city police had launched frenetic searches at the identified locations the following day. To make matters worse, media too started speculating regarding the searches by claiming two ‘ISI agents’ were nabbed from Bhaldarpura. Such was the rumour-mongering, even some city police officials had started believing there was an MI operation underway in the city.
The truth had come to fore only when MI personnel were alerted. Yergude’s calls were traced to Yol by the city police. He was then rounded up by the Army personnel, and city police too visited Yol for inquiry. It’s learnt Yergude, a native of Bhadrawati in Chandrapur, had known about Ganeshpeth police station as he would frequent the place to take a bus to his place from the inter-district bus stop in the vicinity. Sources said Yergude has so far claimed to have made the calls just for some kicks.
The confirmation of the Army inquiry puts to rest speculation regarding Yergude’s fate. City police had registered offences of impersonation against him at Ganeshpeth police station for allegedly making fake calls. The city police have officially communicated to the Army about the case registered by them against Yergude, providing details of actions kicked off by the jawan’s prank.
The cops have also let the Army know that they have no objection to the inquiry by Yergude’s department.
Yergude, posing as ‘Major Pankaj of Military Intelligence (MI)’, had told city police there had been communications with Karachi via satellite phones by unidentified callers from sensitive locations within the city. This had put in motion the anti-sabotage mechanism of the city police.
Following Yergude’s calls on November 8, city police had launched frenetic searches at the identified locations the following day. To make matters worse, media too started speculating regarding the searches by claiming two ‘ISI agents’ were nabbed from Bhaldarpura. Such was the rumour-mongering, even some city police officials had started believing there was an MI operation underway in the city.
The truth had come to fore only when MI personnel were alerted. Yergude’s calls were traced to Yol by the city police. He was then rounded up by the Army personnel, and city police too visited Yol for inquiry. It’s learnt Yergude, a native of Bhadrawati in Chandrapur, had known about Ganeshpeth police station as he would frequent the place to take a bus to his place from the inter-district bus stop in the vicinity. Sources said Yergude has so far claimed to have made the calls just for some kicks.
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