Imposter who used ministers' name for handpumps, road contracts held by STF

The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) has arrested a man accused of calling up government officials and asking them to get his personal works done by claiming to be an associate of senior ministers in the state, officials said on Thursday. Accused Rajkumar Shukla was arrested near the cancer hospital in Jiyamau, under the Gautam Palli police station limits, on Wednesday night following a tip-off, they said.

"The STF had been getting inputs about a man calling up government officials in various districts of the state and pressuring them to get his personal works done. He would claim to be the personal secretary or officer on special duty (OSD) attached with some senior minister in the UP government to build pressure," a senior STF offiial said. During probe, Shukla told investigators that he has been doing this for nearly two months now and has called up government officials for favour in personal and relatives' cases of getting weapon license, land disputes, and contracts for road, sanitation and street light works, the official said.

The accused had called up government officials, including district magistrates and lock development officers in Lakhimpur Khiri, Bahraich, and Hardoi, among others, he said. Shukla, a native of Lakhimpur Khiri, had once called up his local MLA and forced him into getting handpumps fixed in his village and other nearby villages, the official added.

A case has been registered against Shukla at the Gautam Palli police station under Indian Penal Code sections 170 (impersonating government official), 420 (fraud) and under the IT Act, he said.

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