A man from Rajasthan has been arrested for allegedly creating a fake profile on a social media platform of a senior bureaucrat in Calcutta and taking money from people on the officer’s friend list by impersonating him.
Kolkata Police arrested Bijay Sahu in Rajasthan and brought him to Calcutta on transit remand.
He was produced before the Bankshal court on Thursday and remanded in police custody.
The police said the accused had created a fake account on Facebook. He was approaching several people through the social media platform, asking for money, impersonating the Calcutta-based IAS officer, now in the rank of a principal secretary.
The officer learnt about the fraud and reported it to Kolkata Police.
The police tracked the accused with the help of the phone number that was used to create and operate the fake profile.
Sahu was produced before the court on Thursday. His defence lawyer said that Sahu was innocent and was engaged in a shop to fry fritters.
The prosecution lawyer countered the claims, saying that the police had ample proof against him before putting him behind bars.