‘Conman’ Kiran Patel brought from J&K to Gujarat, arrested for cheating Morbi businessman of Rs 42.86 lakh

Ahmedabad, Aug 10 (PTI) Alleged conman Kiran Patel was on Thursday brought from a jail in Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir to Gujarat on a transfer warrant by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch and placed under arrest in a cheating case, an official said.

This is the seventh FIR against Patel and involves alleged cheating of a businessman by posing as a Class I officer, he said.

Patel made national headlines when he was arrested in Jammu and Kashmir for posing as a top official in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in March after videos showing him moving around under security cover went viral.

He was remanded in the custody of the crime branch till 2pm on Friday, the official said, adding that it is the second occasion when Gujarat police have brought him from J-K through a transfer warrant.

As per the fresh FIR registered with Sola police station in Ahmedabad recently, Patel, a resident of Ghodasar area of city, had cheated Morbi-based businessman Bharat Patel of Rs 42.86 lakh by posing as a “class-1 government officer”, a crime branch release said.

“When Bharat Patel was planning to set up a factory in Morbi a year ago, Kiran Patel approached him claiming he works as a class-1 officer and can get required clearances from the state government using his influence,” as per the release.

“Kiran Patel took Rs 42.86 lakh from the businessman in various installments. However, when nothing was moving for seven to eight months, Bharat Patel found Kiran Patel was lying and filed a police case,” as per the FIR.

Kiran Patel has been charged under Indian Penal Code sections 420 (cheating), 406 (breach of trust), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 170 (impersonation).

Kiran Patel is facing similar FIRs in Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Bayad towns of Gujarat, and in some of the cases, his wife Malini Patel has been held as co-accused.