Air Force officer poses as Amit Shah on phone to help friend become vice-chancellor; arrested

A senior Indian Air Force officer was arrested by the Madhya Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) for allegedly posing himself as Union Home Minister Amit Shah over a phone call to the Governor Lalji Tandon to help his friend's appointment as the Vice-Chancellor of a medical university in the state.

The SIT has also arrested the IAF officer's friend. The arrested duo was identified as Kuldeep Baghela, an IAF Wing Commander and Chandresh Kumar Shukla.

As per reports, Baghela, currently posted at the IAF headquarters in Delhi and his dentist friend Shukla, who had posed as Shah's personal assistant (PA) during the phone call, was arrested.

Baghela had recommended Shukla's name to the governor for the post of the vice-chancellor of the Jabalpur-based Madhya Pradesh Medical Science University (MPMSU), Additional Director General (ADG), STF, Ashok Awasthi told to PTI.

"We have arrested IAF Wing Commander Kuldeep Baghela on the charge of impersonating as Union Home Minister Amit Shah during a phone call to the state governor to influence the appointment for the post of vice-chancellor," he said.

Also Read: JNU Violence: Delhi police identifies 37 members of 'Unity Against Left' WhatsApp group

"His dentist friend Chandresh Kumar Shukla has also been arrested. Both of them are in the age group of 35 to 40 years," Awasthi added.

According to him, Baghela was earlier posted as the aide-de-camp (ADC) to former MP governor Ramnaresh Yadav for three years.

Shukla was aspiring to become the Vice-Chancellor of the MPMSU and had applied for it when the process of appointment to the post had begun, he said.

The ADG said that Shukla had contacted Baghela expressing his wish that he wanted to become the V-C of the university and told him that it could be done if some senior leader recommended his name.

"Later, both of them hatched a conspiracy and called the state governor (Lalji Tandon). While Shukla posed as Amit Shah's PA, Baghela impersonated as the union home minister and talked to the governor," Awasthi said.

(With PTI Inputs)

Also Read: Anti-CAA protest in West Bengal: Railways loses Rs 84 crore during stir against Citizenship Law