Forest official tries to dupe engineer

Jabalpur, July 7 (UNI) A Forest Department assistant project manager was among two persons arrested for posing as Income Tax (I-T) and Vigilance officers and demanding Rs 5 lakh from a government official, police said.

Mr Ganesh Verma, a resident of the local Katanga area, is posted at Mandla as an executive engineer in the Irrigation Department. He filed a police complaint that, on July 3, two persons arrived at his local residence with a file and introduced themselves to his wife as I-T and Vigilance officers.

Ms Verma was informed that complaints of ''severe irregularities'' were filed against her husband and she was told to call up Mr Verma and ask him to come here. After Mr Verma reached here yesterday, the duo told him to come to a hotel with Rs 5 lakh.

Mr Verma promptly alerted the police.

A team led by Gorakhpur Station House Officer Rajesh Tiwari traced the accused's telephone call. Satyadev Pande and Gyandeep Parmanik were apprehended from Chandni Hotel near the Bus Stand and a fake file seized.

''Pande is posted at this district's Kundam while Parmanik used to work as a lodge manager. Interrogation is revealing that other people were similarly swindled,'' Mr Tiwari said.

UNI RG-AC 2112