NEW DELHI: A 49-year-old Urdu scholar who allegedly impersonated a former governor and duped people on the pretext of jobs has been arrested, police said today.
The accused, Syed Mohammed Ali Rizvi, allegedly approached people claiming to be Syed Sibtey Razi, former Governor of Jharkhand and Assam, promising them government jobs by using his contacts and charged them money for the favour, a senior police official said.
Rizvis activities came to light when Razi, who is also a former Rajya Sabha MP, approached the police and told them that someone was cheating people in Delhi by impersonating him.
With local and technical surveillance, the Crime Branch of Delhi Police zeroed in on Rizvi and arrested him from his rented accommodation in southeast Delhis Shahin Bagh locality, the official said.
Rizvi graduated as an ?Aalim?, equivalent to Bachelor?s degree, from the Arabian-Persian Board in Allahabad and later obtained Master?s degree from Purvanchal University.
He is a PhD holder in Urdu language from Lucknow University and has been a tutor at a madrassa for the past few years.
During interrogation, Rizvi told police that he resorted to crime to make money for the treatment of his daughter, who is critically ill and is admitted at a hospital in Mumbai.
It also emerged that Rizvi was arrested earlier at UPs Aligarh in a similar case in which he had allegedly duped several persons on the pretext of jobs, claiming to be an official of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
He was also arrested in a theft case at Indira Gandhi Airport here, the official added.