Man from Gujarat held for posing as PMO official

A man from Vadodara has been arrested for posing as a PMO official to secure the admission of two children in a private school

A man from Vadodara has been arrested for posing as a PMO official to secure the admission of two children in a private school.

According to the police official, the man also tried to dupe the admission for a huge sums with his fake identity.

The accused identified as Mayank Tiwari was arrested on Friday.

Identifying himself as a director (strategic advisory) at the PMO in New Delhi, Mayank Tiwari first got in touch with the private school and its trustee in March last year, during the admission season.

"Tiwari, a middle-aged man, sought the school's help with the admission of two sons of his "family friend", whom he described as Indian Army official Mirza Baig and said he was being transferred to Vadodara from Pune," said the official from Waghodia police station in the city.

The school's director asked Tiwari, whose WhatsApp status said he was a "PMO official", to meet the trustee, who is also associated with a private university in Vadodara.

"Tiwari told the trustee that he could use his clout as a "PMO official" and get the school involved in the field of education research and get them various projects if they took care of the expenses," the police official added.

"The accused took the trustee and the school's director into confidence with the intention of cheating them of huge sums, said the first information report (FIR). He also secured the admission of the two children as special cases," the official said.

A few months later, the trustee had doubts about Tiwari's claims of being a PMO official. The trustee later found out that Tiwari was not a PMO official and had conned them by spinning a tale about his "immense influence", said the FIR. 

On a complaint by the school administration, the Waghodia police registered a case against Tiwari under Indian Penal Code sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), and 170 (personating a public servant) and arrested him.

(with inputs from PTI)

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