IMPOSTER JAILED FOR BID TO WANGLE PASSES FROM SPAIN

By Amandeep Shukla in New Delhi

AN ASPIRING actor, who had been posing as senior Congress leader Janardhan Dwivedi’s son in order to cheat several powerful government officials, has been caught in the security net that has been thrown around the hockey World Cup in the Capital.

Raj Dwivedi from Amethi is now cooling his heels after a city court sent him to 14 days’ judicial custody. Only a day earlier, Raj had been trying to impress his peers at an acting school in Greater Kailash by boasting about his ability to get VIP passes for matches at the ongoing World Cup.

According to police sources, Raj, who had been staying in Delhi’s Rohini area, had been telling people for the last five years that he was the son of All India Congress Committee member Janardhan Dwivedi.

And to back up this claim, Raj even made a phone call on Sunday to Suresh Kalmadi, the president of Indian Olympic Association.

According to the FIR registered at the Tughlak Road police station, a phone call was received at Kalmadi’s residence on Sunday with a message that a person would come to collect the passes.

Police officials said officials at Kalmadi’s residence got suspicious and decided to crosscheck with Janardhan Dwivedi’s office. Meanwhile, a man named Anand reached Kalmadi’s residence to collect the passes.

When it became clear that the phone call was mischevious, Dwivedi’s secretary Tribhuwan Singh registered a complaint and told the cops that similar phone calls had earlier been made to the office of Prasar Bharati chief executive officer BS Lalli and the MCD Commissioner’s office.

In his complaint, Singh said they were worried because the passing of VIP tickets into wrong hands had serious implications.

“ We registered a case and questioned Anand, the man who had come to collect the passes. Anand seemed unaware that Raj had pulled a fast one on him, so we did not arrest him,” said a police official.

Anand then led the police team to Raj, who the cops claim had been regularly cheating people.

“ We have registered a case and arrested the man who posed as the senior Congress leader’s son. Investigations are on,” said Shankar Dash, Additional Commissioner of Police ( New Delhi District).