PUNE: A man accused of duping citizens by claiming to wield influence in the Pune Municipal Corporation and who is also suspected of sending an objectionable message to PMC commissioner Naval Kishore Ram over an alleged financial transaction, has been arrested by the Shivajinagar police.
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The accused, identified as Vijendra Hanumant Pawar, was detained by the PMC’s security department inside the civic headquarters on Thursday evening before being handed over to the police. Vijendra Pawar has also been booked for cheating a property tax defaulter of ₹6 lakh by promising to get his tax dues reduced. As per the police complaint lodged by Santosh Gangaram Naik, a resident of Charholi Budruk, Vijendra Pawar allegedly introduced himself as the nephew of PMC deputy commissioner (tax assessment and collection) Ravi Pawar, and claimed that he could secure a reduction in Naik’s property tax. Believing Vijendra Pawar’s assurances, Naik initially transferred ₹4 lakh online and later paid another ₹2 lakh in cash. However, when the promised tax relief failed to materialise, Naik approached deputy commissioner Ravi Pawar, who alerted PMC security officer Rakesh Vitkar. Acting on the information, PMC security personnel detained Vijendra Pawar upon spotting him inside the PMC headquarters and handed him over to the Shivajinagar police. A case has been registered against the accused under sections 318(2) and 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for cheating. He is expected to be produced in court.
PMC officials said that Vijendra Pawar is also under suspicion for sending an objectionable message to commissioner Naval Kishore Ram regarding the transfer of suspended road department superintendent engineer, Asit Jadhav. The message allegedly referred to a financial transaction through a third person, and was purportedly intended to pressurise the commissioner into stalling the transfer.
Vitkar said, “The security department had been searching for Vijendra Pawar for the past four days in connection with the objectionable message. On Thursday, we located him inside the PMC premises, detained him, and handed him over to the Shivajinagar police.”
PMC officials added that on the commissioner’s directions, a separate complaint will also be lodged with the cyber police to carry out a technical investigation into the objectionable message.
