Court To Hear Kiran Patel’s Fresh Bail Plea Today
By Majid Nabi
Srinagar- Jammu and Kashmir police on Tuesday filed a chargesheet against Gujarati conman Kiran Jagdish Bhai Patel under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including that of cheating and hatching a criminal conspiracy against the Union Territory administration by posing as a top official in the Prime Minister’s Office.
The chargesheet against Patel was filed in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Srinagar in a case FIR number 19 of 2023 registered against him at the police station Nishat.
He has been charged with cheating, impersonation, and criminal conspiracy under Sections 419, 420, 468, 471, 170, 120B of IPC and Sections 3, 5 of Emblem and Names (Prev of improper use) Act, 1950.
Patel, a resident of the Ghodasar area of Ahmedabad, was arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir police in March from a five-star hotel in Srinagar for posing as Additional Director (Strategy and Campaigns) Prime Minister’s Office, New Delhi, and availing requisite perks, including a bulletproof car and scores of security personnel.
Purported videos of Patel surveying the snow slopes of Gulmarg with a posse of armed security personnel around him and of a convoy of vehicles accompanying him weaving through a Valley town have been circulated widely across social media platforms.
He had even visited the last post at Uri in north Kashmir, posing for pictures at a bridge treated as a Line of Control between India and Pakistan.
Patel, according to officials, might be sentenced to seven years rigorous imprisonment under sections 468 IPC, if found to be guilty.
“Challan filed under sections of 419, 420, 468, 471, 170, 120B of IPC and Sections 3, 5 of Emblem & Names (Previously of improper use) Act 1950,” Srinagar police said in a tweet. He is lodged in Srinagar central Jail, police said.
An official told Kashmir Observer that the counsel for the accused has filed a fresh bail plea in the court and the matter has been listed for hearing on May 3 for arguments.
It may be in place to mention that the court had on March 23 dismissed bail application of the accused on the grounds that granting bail to him at this stage would ‘undermine’ the integrity of the probe.
Four FIRs related to cheating were recently registered against Patel in different police stations in Gujarat, including one by the Ahmedabad crime branch for trying to usurp a senior citizen’s bungalow.
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