Man poses as UP minister to enjoy Goa holiday

Panaji: The Goa protocol department has started an internal probe into how an alleged fraudster posing as the Uttar Pradesh Cooperatives Minister was hosted by the state government for 10 days, during which he was allotted housing, police security cover and even rubbed shoulders with ministers and senior BJP officials during the period. While the Goa Crime Branch, which has now arrested the conman identified as Sunil Singh claims that he was in Goa to enjoy a “free holiday”, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant insists that he was in Goa to create a network for a “trading business” by posing as a minister. “It was me who directed the police to arrest him. He had created a set of forged documents on an (Uttar Pradesh) government letterhead. He was here to do some trading business. He was meeting people in Goa for that,” Sawant told reporters here on Thursday. Officials of the Crime Branch, who have interrogated him, as well as four members of his “entourage” after their arrest earlier this week, said that Singh came to Goa for a cheap Goa vacation.

“His team had contacted the Goa government’s protocol department with forged documents which claimed that he was a minister in the Uttar Pradesh government and was therefore allotted personal security officers, a vehicle and lodging as per protocol norms,” a Crime Branch official said. (IANS)

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