UP: Youth preparing for competitive exam poses as police official to get mobile phone repaired, arrested

Amid coronavirus lockdown, people are trying crazy things to step outside their homes. Recently, a man from Uttar Pradesh tried to bluff a police officer in a bid to repair his mobile phone.

He posed as a Superintendent of Police (SP), called up a subordinate police officer, and asked him to got his mobile repaired or ready to face the consequences.

However, his deception landed him jail.

According to the reports in IANS, the 23-year-old youth identified as Shubham Upadhyay, who is preparing for competitive examination and he is the son of a farmer, Azamgarh SP Triveni Singh said.

Reportedly, his phone developed a snag on Saturday, he tried to reach out to local mechanics but unable to get it to repair due to the ongoing lockdown.

Hence, he used a free caller identification app to call up the in-charge of the Kotwali police station, K K Gupta. He threatened to shunt him out if he failed to swiftly get the work done. After this, Gupta found something suspicious and then caught the youth.

In his statement to the police, Shubham Upadhyay said, "On Sunday noon, I tried to breach the district borders to reach Lucknow to repair my phone, but since there was a heavy police presence and barricading, I returned home. Later, I installed a free caller identification app in my handset and mentioned the name as SP Azamgarh and even uploaded a photo of the cop to appear genuine."

The 23-year-old man called SHO, Kotwali, and asked him to get his phone repaired and asked him to pick up the phone from the SP office in an hour. Then, he called a businessman to bring his SUV and hand over his mobile to the SHO.

Upadhyay called the police again and asked him to meet at a separate meeting point, he raised suspicion. SHO tried to confirm the venue with him, the youth got hesitant and said he would send a peon.

"I suddenly realised something was fishy and rang up the public relation officer of SP Azamgarh, who denied any such order from the SP. When the caller's number was scanned, it displayed the name of SP Azamgarh," said SHO Gupta.

After reaching the venue, Gupta asked the man named Praveen Shukla sitting in the vehicle about the address of the Upadhyay’s home. Finally, police arrested Upadhyay from the Bilariya locality.

Upadhyay has been booked under IT Act and for threatening a public servant.

-With agency inputs

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