How a Gujarat man posing as a PMO official conned security agencies in Srinagar into getting Z Plus security

Kiran Bhai Patel also held "official meetings" and visited tourist sites

ITDC INDIA EPRESS/ ITDC NEWS : A Gujarat man, posing as an official from the PMO, has allegedly managed to con Srinagar administration officials into getting a Z-plus security cover, a bulletproof Mahindra Scorpio SUV and official accommodation at a five-star hotel, in Jammu and Kashmir.

Not just that, Kiran Bhai Patel also held a series of "meetings" with top officials and visited tourist destinations, including Gulmarg, claiming that he was here to check on the hotel facilities in the area, court documents said. 

Patel, who has a verified Twitter handle and over a thousand followers, allegedly convinced the Jammu and Kashmir administration that he was the additional director for strategy and campaigns in the Prime Minister's Office, reported Hindustan Times.

Patel also posted on Twitter several videos and pictures of his visits to Kashmir surrounded by paramilitary personnel.

He reportedly conned several IAS officials in Srinagar boasting about his close contacts with high-ranking bureaucrats and politicians in Delhi. However, his cover was blown on March 3  and Patel was arrested while on his third visit to the valley. The security agencies reportedly got suspicious as there was no intimation about any VIP movement in the airport on that day.

Though they tried to stop his movement, Patel had already stepped into a bullet-proof car on the way to the hotel. The law enforcement personnel then managed to conduct a check on him, equipped by intelligence agencies alert on a conman. They recovered forged identity cards from his possession from his hotel room, according to court documents.

Though the police kept his arrest a secret, the news leaked after a magistrate sent him to judicial custody. The officials have also initiated action against two police officials for failing to check his credentials on time.

Patel, who is very active on Twitter, claims to have a PhD from Commonwealth University, Virginia, an MBA from IIM Trichy, as well as an M.Tech in Computer Science and B.E. in Computer Engineering. He calls himself a "thinker, strategist, analyst and campaign manager"