Impersonating as PMO staff, group dupes forest officers; two arrested

WAYANAD: Two persons have been arrested for staying in forest department watch tower after misleading the forest department into believing that they are staffs of Prime Minister's Office and had arrived for an investigation. AR Rajesh from Thiruvananthapuram and P Praveen from Kollam were arrested. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) arrested them from their homes.

They were staying at the Forest Department Watch Tower in Vettathur and misled the Forest Department employees that they were Major in the Army. In this name they arranged free accommodation and food. It is learned that they stayed here from July 25 to 29 and promised to fix the demands including the road.

Deepak P Chand and M Girish in the gang are yet to be arrested. The arrested persons were taken to Pulpally police station. They had left the district when the forest officials came to know that the scammers had fixed their accommodation by showing fake documents. The suspects were later nabbed based on information provided to the police. The investigation was intensified for the other accused.