Celebrity gym instructor held for deception

Mumbai: Namedropping could get you in serious trouble, even get you arrested and jailed for con and deception, as a personal trainer to Bollywood actors, Mahendra Jhajharia, would tell you.

Mr Jhajharia has written to the offices of the chief minister and home minister, complaining that Senior Inspector Dinesh Verma, attached to the Mumbai Traffic Police, arrested him for posing as an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, when all he did was mention that he knew an IPS officer, he alleged. But Verma arrested him for fraud and impersonation, nonetheless.

The incident occurred on June 22 at Prarthana Samaj in south Mumbai. Jhajharia (48), a resident of Malabar Hill, was going to meet his family doctor, Dr Yogesh Bele, around 11 pm, when he saw some policemen by the road.

Curious, he asked them why they were standing guard. To which the cop told him that they stood there to crack down on drink driving.

However, another cop started questioning him about the U-turn he had taken to come to where the cops were standing, and an argument ensued. To end the verbal dispute, he told them that he knew some IPS officers. Hearing this, the constable saluted him and let him to go.

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Later, Mr Jhajharia met Dr Bele and they went out for ice cream. While they were returning, around 12.30 am, the same police team halted them at the same spot and started questioning them. They asked Mr Jhajharia about his friend in the IPS, who named the IG of Konkan Range.

But the policemen took him to Inspector Verma the VP Marg station, and said he was impersonating an IPS cadre officer. The cop asked his officials to arrest Mr Jhajharia.

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"I tried to convince Verma that I am innocent and don't drink and drive. I even touched his feet. But he abused me and ordered his officers to arrest me," said Mr Jhajharia.

An FIR was registered with DB Marg police and Jhajharia was arrested under Sections 170 (impersonating a public servant) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). His car was seized. He was produced in court and remanded to police custody. On June 29, he was released on bail.

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Mr Jhajharia has registered several complaints against Inspector Verma through his lawyer Vijay Advani. "I am surprised at the manner the policemen arrested Mr Jhajharia, and booked him under Section 420 of IPC. I have registered several complaints against Verma. I am also going to file a writ petition against him," said Mr Advani.

The Other Side
Senior Inspector Dinesh Verma said, "Jhajharia posed as an IPS officer and said he was inspecting the cops. A constable saluted him but the others got suspicious.

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While he was returning, the police team asked for his (IPS) identity card. When he failed to produce one, the team brought him to me. I asked for his identity card.

But he touched my feet. I think he has posed as an IPS officer before. So I ordered him to be arrested. He was not drunk."

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Asked why Section 420 was invoked, Inspector Verma said: "He has not committed any documental or paper fraud but he accepted the salute from the constable. It means he cheated the state government."