BHOPAL – Madhya Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) has arrested a senior Indian Air Force (IAF) officer for allegedly posing as Union Home Minister Amit Shah in a phone call to Governor Lalji Tandon to facilitate his friend’s appointment as the vice-chancellor of a medical university, an official said on Friday.
Wing Commander Kuldeep Baghela, posted at the IAF headquarters in Delhi, was arrested along with his Bhopal-based dentist friend Chandresh Kumar Shukla who posed as Shah’s personal assistant (PA) during the call, the official said.
STF Additional Director General (ADG) Ashok Awasthi said that Baghela had recommended Shukla’s name to the Governor for the post of vice-chancellor of the Jabalpur-based Madhya Pradesh Medical Science University (MPMSU).
“We have arrested IAF Wing Commander Kuldeep Baghela on the charge of impersonating Union Home Minister Amit Shah during a phone call to the state Governor to influence the appointment for the post of vice-chancellor,” said Awasthi. “His dentist friend Dr Chandresh Kumar Shukla has also been arrested. Both of them are in the age group of 35 to 40 years.”
Awasthi said Baghela was earlier posted as the aide-de-camp (ADC) to former MP Governor Ramnaresh Yadav for three years.
Shukla was aspiring to become the V-C of the MPMSU and had applied when the process of appointment to the post began, he said.
Awasthi said Shukla had contacted Baghela expressing his wish to become the V-C and told him it could be done if a senior leader recommended his name.
“Later, both of them hatched a conspiracy and called the state governor (Lalji Tandon). While Shukla posed as Amit Shah’s PA, Baghela impersonated the Union Home Minister and talked to the governor,” Awasthi said.
However, officials at the Governor’s house got suspicious and found it to be a fraud when they cross-examined it. Subsequently, the case was reported to the STF, another official said.
The STF is interrogating the arrested duo, he said.
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