The Jammu and Kashmir Police on March 19 described the measure to provide a security cover to Kiran Bhai Patel, an alleged conman who posed as an official from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), as “a mistake and not an intelligence failure”.
Additional Director-General of Police (ADGP) (Kashmir Zone) Vijay Kumar, however, admitted that there has been carelessness on part of the field officers. “Action will be taken,” Mr. Kumar said. He said the case is not an intelligence failure but a mistake, “which is being investigated”.
Mr. Kumar said the alleged conman was caught red-handed by a team of police, headed by an Indian Police Service-level officer, on March 2 in Srinagar and seized fake visiting cards.
“A case was registered immediately. He (Mr. Patel) was in police remand for 14 days and now sent to judicial remand. He is being rigorously and professionally interrogated. No one involved will be spared,” Mr. Kumar said.
Mr. Patel, who first arrived in Kashmir in October last year, impersonated himself as Additional Director, Strategy and Campaigns in the PMO. He was granted a stay in a five-star hotel in Srinagar and provided a security cover. He even held meetings with local officials and visited sensitive areas close to the Line of Control (LoC) in north Kashmir.
Videos appearing on social media platforms showed Mr. Patel, along with his wife and daughter, enjoying a police protocol during their visits to tourist destinations like Gulmarg and Doodhpathri in Kashmir. These videos also background score of Bollywood nationalist songs and being tweeted, apparently with the intention to widen his sphere of influence.
On Mr. Patel being able to get a security cover, including bullet-proof vehicles, on verbal instructions of officials, ADGP Kumar said, “There are clear instructions not to provide a security cover on verbal instructions. We are looking into this.”
Mr. Kumar said the Union Territory Police were in touch with the Gujarat police to investigate the case.
