Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi took a swipe at the Jammu and Kashmir administration after Kiran Patel, a conman from Gujarat, posed as an ‘additional secretary’ in the Union government enjoyed Z-plus security cover besides other hospitality. Patel was on his third visit to the Kashmir valley and was subsequently arrested by alert security officials on March 3.

The news came as a huge embarrassment for the J&K administration with many, including politicians, questioning the intelligence lapse.

Also Read | ‘My husband is…’: Wife of Gujarat conman Kiran Patel who baffled Jammu and Kashmir cops

Taking to Twitter, Chaturvedi claimed when she had visited Jammu to meet the families of victims of targeted Hindu killings in Kashmir, she had been offered zilch security.

“Not that it deterred me, but as MP when I had visited Jammu to meet the families of victims of targeted Hindu killings in Kashmir, I had been offered zilch security and here a conman manages to get z security, VIP protocol, hotel stay and mehman nawaazi. Adbhud!” the Rajya Sabha MP tweeted sharing a Hindustan Times report- Gujarat conman with fake PMO card baffles Jammu and Kashmir cops – on the fraud case.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav demanded “strictest action” against the people responsible for this serious issue.

“No investigation was done while giving security to Gujarat’s fake officer Kiran Bhai Patel, it is playing with the security of the country. Strictest action should be taken against the people responsible for this serious issue, they should be removed from the job with immediate effect and punished,” Yadav tweeted.

The Aam Aadmi Party also slammed the administration for failing to identify Patel earlier.

“A thug from Gujarat misused government machinery in the name of PMO, spent crores of public money and celebrated holidays in bulletproof car with Z+ Security. Just to clarify, the person’s name is Kiran Bhai Patel,” AAP tweeted.

Who is Kiran Patel and how he conned Jammu and Kashmir cops:

1. Kiran Patel had claimed he had been given mandate by the government to identify buyers for apple orchards in south Kashmir and a couple of IAS officers were in awe of him as he had been dropping names of high-ranking bureaucrats and politicians in New Delhi.

2. He was on his third visit to the Kashmir valley and was subsequently arrested by alert security officials on March 3.

3. During Patel’s earlier visit to Kashmir, he had travelled to tourist hotspots like Gulmarg claiming that the government had tasked him to look for improvement of hotel facilities in the area.

4. Patel has over 1,500 followers on Twitter. His Twitter bio reads he is a resident of “34, Meena Baug, New Delhi”; a PHD from a college in Virginia, an MBA from IIM Trichy; “thinker, strategist, analyst, and campaign manager”.

5. Dressed in a Nehru jacket and sunglasses, his social media posts show he went to one location to another in the conflict-ridden Union Territory with a huge police entourage, reportedly Z-plus security cover, carrying weapons around him.

6. Officials investigating the case told HT that, Patel had held several meetings with top bureaucrats in the Valley, often promising prize postings. In his meetings with political leaders, he told them he had been sent to check the pulse of the political situation “on behalf of PMO”.

7. Among the places Patel visited with security cover were Kaman Post on the Line of Control, and Lal Chowk in Srinagar, and Spice Park in south Kashmir’s Pulwama.

How was Kiran Patel arrested?

1. According to court documents, Kiran Patel was on his third visit to the Kashmir valley and was subsequently arrested by alert security officials on March 3.

2. The Jammu & Kashmir Police said the CID wing of the state police intimated the SSP Srinagar of the presence of an impersonator at the Lalit Hotel. “The particulars of this person were found as Kiran Bhai Patel…who was impersonating himself as Additional Director (strategy and campaigns) PMO, New Delhi. As his replies were found suspicious, he was taken to Nishat police station, where he admitted his crime. Ten fake visiting cards and two mobiles were seized from him,” the police said in a statement on Friday.

3. He has been arrested under sections related to cheating and forgery. The case, police said, is in the initial stage of investigations, adding that he had three previous cases of cheating and forgery in Vadodara, Ahmedabad and Bayad.

(With inputs from Mir Ehsan Srinagar and Maulik Pathak in Ahmedabad)