Arrested: Abhishek Dwivedi posing as personal secretary to Home Minister Amit Shah, allegedly called a personal staff of Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, seeking cancellation of the transfer of a transport department official in Gwalior.

A 27-year-old man was arrested from Madhya Pradesh by the Delhi Police, in a joint operation with Indore police, for allegedly impersonating the personal secretary of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

“We received a complaint on July 3 from the Union Home Minister’s office, where it was alleged that someone misused the minister’s personal secretary’s name and position to seek favours from the personal staff of the Union transport minister regarding cancellation of the transfer of a motor licensing officer (MLO) in Gwalior. On July 5, a case was registered and police started investigation,” said a senior police officer.

During investigation, police said the location of the user of a suspect mobile number was traced to Mumbai. Searches were carried out in Kolambeli, Khargar, Belapur and Taloja area of Navi Mumbai.

Meanwhile, Dwivedi realised police were on his trail and fled Mumbai, the officer said. Later, his location was tracked to Indore, and he was arrested on Thursday. The mobile phone and SIM card used to make the calls has been recovered, police said.

During questioning, police found that Dwivedi’s childhood friend, a resident of Rewa, had requested him for cancellation of his transfer, the officer said.

Police said Dwivedi was produced in the court and taken on a four-day transit remand to Delhi.

By Indian Express