Govt employee poses as judge before AAP leader in Punjab, two arrested

According to the police, the arrested official, identified as Lakhbinder Singh, was posted as a tehsildar in Moga with the revenue department. Earlier, the police had arrested another government official Sandeep Behl of Ferozepur, who was posted as an agricultural development officer (ADO) in Muktsar. The third accused Daljit Singh was posted as a reader with a sub-divisional magistrate (SDM). He is still on the run, officers added.

Moga SP (investigation) Ajay Raj Singh said the probe found that Behl called AAP leader Varinder Dhosiwal of Muktsar in March and spoke to him posing as a judge. In his complaint, Dhosiwal said that on March 18 he first received calls from the phones of tehsildar Lakhbinder and Daljit saying that judge Rajinder Singh will call him soon. Then he received a third call in which Behl spoke to him while posing as the judge. They congratulated him for his elevation as joint secretary of the AAP’s SC wing and told Dhosiwal that some persons known to them would meet him soon to get some work done.

The fraud came to light after Dhosiwal, a former government employee, met judge Rajinder Singh. Following this, an FIR was registered on May 23 under sections 419 (cheating by personation), 170 (pretending to hold office as public servant), 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and section 66 of the Information Technology Act at Muktsar city police station. The probe was later transferred to the Moga police.

Moga crime investigation agency (CIA) staff inspector Tarlochan Singh arrested Behl late on Wednesday. Behl was earlier suspended from the agriculture department for alleged discrepancies in collecting pesticide samples for testing. He has been sent to three-day police remand by a local court in Muktsar. The probe found that Behl had previously blackmailed many others by posing as a judge.