KOLKATA: When a red hatchback parked on the far corner of Shakespeare Sarani-New Park Street created disturbance in the flow of traffic on this busy thoroughfare around 6.30pm on Tuesday, the officers of East Traffic Guard intervened with the intention of seizing the car. In the process though, they ended up nabbing a cheat who not only flouted traffic rules, but even impersonated as a fake senior central vigilance officer and roamed about in his own car that he had fitted with a blue beacon. Police have also found boards and printouts that announced his fake government designation, fake VIP parking passes and even the Indian flag on his car’s dashboard.
The accused has been identified as Md. Asiful Haque alias Md Sadiq, a resident of Collins Street. The arrest, which has come exactly a week after police arrested fake IAS officer Debanjan Deb, has led Lalbazar to order a crackdown on those using blue beacons.
“We were carrying out a special drive against illegal parking in the Shakespeare Sarani area. We had already towed some cars parked illegally on the main roads when we noticed this red car. As we were enquiring, out walked a 26-year-old man, in his bermudas, claiming that he was the chief vigilance commissioner. When we detained him and questioned him, he ran out of excuses on why he was using a blue beacon. He also behaved impolitely and claimed he should be respected as he is a senior officer,” said a cop from the East Traffic Guard.
The cops said that when Haque began misbehaving and tried to get into his car forcefully, they detained him from the New Park Street area and handed him over to Beniapukur police. A case under IPC 170 was lodged.
“During questioning, the accused revealed that he was an engineering dropout. He had worked in an event management firm where he witnessed the power of vigilance officers. Seeing their clout, he wanted to ape them. However, we are not fully satisfied yet with his claims and statements. There are still loopholes. We are trying to examine if he had impersonated senior officers with the motive of cheating common man,” said an investigating officer.
“During investigation, Haque was arrested as he was impersonating a government official. We are investigating the case in detail,” said joint CP (crime) Murlidhar Sharma.
