According to officials, the case was filed based on a complaint from Anil Sharma, Assistant Director in the PMO, following multiple incidents involving a man falsely claiming to be a senior bureaucrat.
The accused allegedly posed as Dr. P. Rama Rao, purportedly a Joint Secretary in the PMO, and contacted the Pro Vice-Chancellor of Symbiosis International University, Pune, seeking admission for a student in the university’s MBA programme.
He reportedly made the call from a private mobile number and followed up with communications implying that the matter was of “urgent consideration” due to his purported connections with the Prime Minister’s Office.
“The impersonator cited the PMO’s name to exert pressure on the institution,” said a senior CBI official. “However, the university administration grew suspicious and reached out to the PMO for verification.”
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Upon checking, the PMO confirmed that no such officer existed in its establishment, prompting the office to escalate the case to central investigative authorities.
Fake VIP Darshan Request at Tirumala Temple
The CBI’s First Information Report (FIR), registered on October 2, also details a second incident involving misuse of PMO letterheads for personal benefits.
According to the FIR, the accused sent a forged letter dated May 1, 2025, to the Executive Officer of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) in Andhra Pradesh, posing as a Deputy Secretary (PMO).
The letter requested VIP Suprabhatam Darshan for May 10, along with three air-conditioned double bedrooms at Tirumala for himself and guests. The forged correspondence bore the PMO emblem and was printed on fake official stationery.
Investigators believe the intent was to exploit the PMO’s authority to obtain special privileges and access within temple premises — a breach of both religious and administrative protocols.
Misuse of Identity for Land Records in Karnataka
In a third incident cited in the FIR, a person impersonating another PMO official, C. Sridhar, Joint Secretary to the Prime Minister, wrote to the Tahsildar of Mysuru, Karnataka, requesting access to government land documents.
When the Tahsildar sought verification from the PMO, officials discovered that the mobile number listed on the fake correspondence matched the same number used in the Symbiosis University admission call.
This connection, investigators say, links the same individual to multiple cases of impersonation across different states, spanning education, religious institutions, and local governance.
“The repeated misuse of PMO identity across diverse domains points to a deliberate pattern of deception,” a CBI officer stated. “The individual systematically targeted institutions of repute to exploit credibility and gain favours.”
CBI Investigation and Legal Implications
The CBI has registered the FIR under sections pertaining to cheating, criminal impersonation, and forgery of government documents. Investigators are now tracing the suspect’s digital footprint, including mobile communication records, email exchanges, and the source of the forged letterheads.
Preliminary inquiries suggest that the impersonator may have used multiple identities, alternating between “Dr. P. Rama Rao” and “C. Sridhar,” to bolster his credibility while approaching different authorities.
The probe will also examine whether the accused had accomplices or access to official templates that allowed him to convincingly replicate PMO documentation.
Officials from Symbiosis International University and the Tirumala temple administration have provided statements to assist the investigation.
