Man impersonates cabinet secretary for phone line, gets jail

PANAJI: The chief judicial magistrate, Panaji, has sentenced former vocational instructor with the state directorate of craftsmen training Henry Daniel to undergo seven years rigorous imprisonment for impersonating the cabinet secretary to speedily get a BSNL landline connection prior to 2011.
The prosecution stated that he fraudulently and dishonestly prepared a forged ID card of the government of India ministry of home affairs, New Delhi, in his name with his photograph and impersonated an IAS officer (cabinet secretary) before the BSNL office Panaji to obtain a new landline connection at his residential government quarters at GMC.

Under-secretary general administration II Ramakant Talkar lodged a complaint on behalf of the state in January 2014 when they received a letter from BSNL regarding verification of documents submitted by Daniel for availing the landline connection.
The prosecution examined nine witnesses during the trial. The court observed that the accused harmed the public as he used the card to get a connection and surpassed other landline connection holders.
The court observed that the accused had knowledge that the documents were fake and forged since he was not a cabinet secretary but still used it as genuine before the BSNL authority.
“The accused does not deserve any leniency; on the contrary, he deserves a deterrent punishment. Being a government servant he was bound to be integrated, however, he played fraud on the government undertaking itself i.e BSNL to avail fast service and impersonated a government servant,” Judge Artikumari Naik, judicial magistrate first class stated.