Man held for posing as UP minister: Goa cops to visit Lucknow

Probe has begun into whether a man held in Goa earlier this week for posing as a minister from Uttar Pradesh by submitting fake documents and staying at a state guest house here for over 10 days was involved in similar cheating incidents in other places, police said on Friday. Sunil Singh, who posed as UP cooperation minister, and four of his accomplices were held on Tuesday by the Crime Branch after Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant alerted police, an official said.

"We will be going to Lucknow to find out if Singh has carried out such crimes in other parts of the country," said Superintendent of Police (Crime Branch) Pankaj Kumar Singh. Meanwhile, Goa protocol minister Mauvin Godinho said "cross verification" would be done to avoid such incidents.

"I will move a file seeking cross verification with the concerned state government before making someone a state guest here," he told reporters..