Kin of man who posed as Lt Col was court marshalled for snooping

LUCKNOW The case of the man who was caught posing as an army officer on Wednesday, has taken a fresh twist, pointing towards a larger conspiracy. The investigators have come to know that a close relative of the wife of the accused was an army man who was court marshalled for leaking sensitive information of army unit deployment.

The accused, Arvind Mishra, 40, who posed as a lt. colonel was arrested from Cantonment area of Lucknow on Wednesday.

“We have come to know that the paternal uncle of Arvind’s immediate wife was ousted from the army almost 15 years ago for passing sensitive information to the enemy. We are now probing if Arvind was in touch with him, ” said a senior police official who is part of the team investigating the matter. When Arvind disclosed his extensive visits to cities with major army instillations, the investigators suspected that he might have gathered sensitive material.

During interrogation by intelligence officials, Arvind disc;osed that he Jalandhar, Jaipur, Lucknow, Nashik and Dehradun. His immediate wife, whom he married in October 2017, is from Jammu. “We have intimated the authorities concerned about this development and they are looking into possible links between Arvind and the uncle,” the officer said. Interestingly, Arvind came on the investigators’ radar and was arrested following a tip off from the wife herself. “She married Arvind believing that he was an army officer. When she came to know his reality she left for her paternal house in Jammu,” the officer said.

Officers suspect that either the wife’s uncle or someone related to him must have influenced Arvind to collect information about army establishments while posing as an army officer.

“Arvind told us that he started posing as a fake army officer only after he came in contact with his immediate wife in late 2016. All these aspects are being probed in detail,” the officer said.

A native of Bahraich, Arvind was employed in telecommunication sector and left when his company became defunct in 2016. He was charged under possible sections of IPC and is currently lodged in prison under judicial custody.