Hitesh Pandya, a senior official in the Gujarat Chief Minister’s office, resigned following a controversy over his son being part of a fake ‘official’ team of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) that tricked the Jammu and Kashmir administration and security apparatus to secure a Z-plus security cover and official accommodation at a five-star hotel. Amit Hitesh Pandya, son of Mr Pandya, was part of a fake ‘official team’ led by conman Kiran Bhai Patel, who was arrested on March 2. Mr Pandya tendered his resignation to Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, saying in his resignation letter that he doesn’t want the image of the Prime Minister’s Office and the Gujarat Chief Minister’s Office to be tarnished even though his son is innocent. Gujarat BJP has reportedly suspended Amit Pandya from the primary membership of the party, and Jammu and Kashmir police has not named him as an accused in the fake PMO team case, but instead as a witness. The conman Kiran Bahi Patel was arrested earlier this month after posing as a senior PMO official and enjoying official protocol for over four months. He visited multiple places, held meetings with officials in various districts across Kashmir before the police were alerted that he was a conman. His arrest was kept a secret by the police for two weeks. The details of the ‘high profile’ arrest emerged only after a magistrate sent him to judicial custody on March 15. Sources say Amit Hitesh Pandya, Jay Sitapara from Gujarat and Trilok Singh from Rajasthan were also impersonating an official team from the PMO and staying with Patel at a five-star hotel in Srinagar. They have been visiting Kashmir since October last year.
