Mumbai: Just eight days after securing bail and walking out of jail, a habitual offender identified as Siddhesh Sudhakar Samant (38), landed in the custody of the Thane (rural) police for attempting his routine modus operandi of impersonating local politicians and seeking funds for charity or functions. This time, Samant used his impersonation skills by posing as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Narendra Mehta and demanded Rs 2 lakh from a Mira Road-based hotelier, as donation for a function organised on the occasion of International Women’s Day.
According to the police, a person identified as Rajesh Keshav Prasad alias Vikas Chacha (65) approached Ravi Kotian, manager of Naivedhya Veg Treat, in Mira Road on Wednesday and demanded Rs 2 lakh on behalf of the legislator. After speaking to hotel owner, Harish Poojary, the manager asked Prasad to come back in the evening. The police said that the hotel owner, who grew suspicious, called up the legislator himself and, after realising that the person was an impostor, he asked his hotel staff to keep the person busy when he came to collect the money. The person who returned in the evening was detained and handed over to the police.
A long career of impersonation
A notorious fraudster, Samant is an expert in mimicking the voices of local politicians and has duped several people including builders and hoteliers by impersonating voices of corporators, MLAs and even MPs. Multiple cases of fraud have been registered against him at police stations including Samata Nagar (Kandivali), Dahisar, Naya Nagar (Mira Road) and also with the Mumbai crime branch unit over the last decade. Just recently, he was arrested by the Kasarvadavali police for impersonating Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik and demanding Rs 51,000 from a resort owner in Thane. He was currently out on bail.
