Italy-Based Indian Man Impersonates Vice President Dhankhar To Dupe Bureaucrats, Arrested

Gagandeep Singh, who is from Jammu, has been residing in Offanengo, Italy, with his family since 2007.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar.

Source : PTI

A 22-year-old Indian living in Italy was detained on Monday for reportedly posing as India's Vice President by creating a fake WhatsApp account and using Jagdeep Dhankhar's photo as his profile display to fool people and solicit favours from high bureaucrats, news agency PTI reported.

Gagandeep Singh, who is from Jammu, has been residing in Offanengo, Italy, with his family since 2007. He studied in India till Class 9 and then moved to Italy to work as a labourer at a firm, they added.

Singh was inspired to impersonate after seeing multiple YouTube videos, according to police.

Ashwani Kumar, 29, one of his associates, has also been detained. Kumar provided the OTP to Singh in order for him to build a bogus WhatsApp account.

According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations) Prashant Gautam, Singh watched several YouTube videos and obtained contact information for senior government officials from the internet before creating the fake WhatsApp account with a picture of the Vice President.

"After that, he obtained an OTP from his associate to create a WhatsApp account with an Indian mobile number. After creating the WhatsApp account, he took a picture of the Vice President of India as a profile picture. Using this impersonating account, he started sending messages to senior government officials to seek favours from senior bureaucracy," he was quoted by PTI in its report.

The incident came to light after someone told the police about the fraud, and a complaint was filed as a result.

"Immediately, details of the impersonating WhatsApp profile were obtained from WhatsApp and the IP address of the sender was traced to Italy. The team started working on all technical aspects and conducted raids, following which a person identified as Ashwani Kumar, a resident of Samana in Punjab, was apprehended who had shared OTP with the imposter to create the WhatsApp account," Gautam said.

During their inquiry, investigators discovered that the main suspect was an Indian national named Gagandeep Singh, who was residing in Italy.

"The team collected details about the accused from Foreigners' Regional Registration Office (FRRO), Banks and regional passport office and subsequently, the accused was apprehended from IGI airport," the officer said.

Five mobile phones used in the conduct of crime were retrieved from his possession, according to police.

(With PTI Inputs)