Two held for theft; gold, silver items recovered

A man posed as Superintendent of Police (SP), called up a subordinate police official and asked him to get his mobile phone repaired or face the consequences. But, his bluff was later called and the man landed in lockup.

Azamgarh SP Triveni Singh said the 23-year-old youth, Shubham Upadhyay, is the son of a farmer. He was preparing for competitive exams when his phone developed a snag on Saturday. He tried to reach out to local mechanics, but they were unavailable to fix it due to the lockdown.

Upadhyay used a free caller identification app to call up the in-charge of the Kotwali police station, K. K. Gupta, and threatened to shunt him out, if he failed to swiftly get the work done. Gupta grew suspicious and eventually caught the youth.

n his statement to the police, Shubham Upadhyay said, "On Sunday noon, I tried to breach the district borders to reach Lucknow to repair my phone, but since there was heavy police presence and barricading, I returned home. Later, I installed a free caller identification app in my handset and mentioned the name as SP Azamgarh and even uploaded a photo of the cop to appear genuine."

He first called SHO, Kotwali to get the phone repaired and was told the handset would be picked up from the SP office in an hour. Then, he called a businessman to bring his SUV and hand over his mobile to the SHO.

But when Upadhyay called the police again to suggest a separate meeting point, he raised suspicion. When the SHO tried to confirm the venue, Upadhyay got hesitant and said he would send a peon.

"I suddenly realised something was fishy and rang up the public relation officer of SP Azamgarh, who denied any such order from the SP. When the caller's number was scanned, it displayed the name of SP Azamgarh," said SHO Gupta.

A trap was laid and when the SHO reached the venue, he found one Praveen Shukla sitting in the vehicle. Police got the address of the accused from Shukla and reached Upadhyay's home in Bilariya locality and arrested him.

Upadhyay has been booked under IT Act and for threatening a public servant.

Muzaffarnagar, Jun 11: Three persons have been arrested for allegedly using plastic scrap to make jaggery at Bhokaheri village under Bhopa police station here, as official said on Thursday.

 Police raided a jaggery manufacturing unite (kolhu) and arrested three persons on Wednesday, SHO, Bhopa police station Sanjive Kumar said.

Police have registered a case against five persons including the trio that was arrested while two of them managed to escape, he said, adding that two loaded tractor trollies of plastic scrap have been seized.

Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 10: The man who fled from the Medical College Hospital where he was undergoing treatment for COVID-19 committed suicide on Wednesday morning after being brought back. He used his bed sheet to hang himself from the ceiling.

Hailing from Anad near Nedumangadu, the man, who was undergoing treatment in the isolation room set up at KHRWS pay ward, escaped from the hospital and boarded two KSRTC buses to reach his home.

The Health Department had said the latest tests had returned negative and he was to be discharged on Wednesday. However, City Police Commissioner Balram Kumar Upadhyay had claimed that one more test result of the person was awaited.

The man was blocked by locals upon his arrival at Anad. He was later taken back to the hospital and the police had registered a case against him under the Kerala Public Health Act and Epidemic Diseases Ordinance.