Pune: A 25-year-old unemployed man allegedly impersonated a cop and collected money from Ganapati mandals in Balewadi on Wednesday.The accused, identified as Vaibhav Bhong (25) of Malshiras in Solapur district, was preparing for police recruitment. About 10 days ago, he allegedly told his parents, who are farmers, that he had become a police constable.Sub-inspector Swati Lamkhede of Baner police said, “Bhong was detained from a spot in Laxminagar, Balewadi, around 11am on Wednesday after receiving information that a man wearing a police t-shirt was asking people for money.”“Bhong was carrying pamphlets of Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad police Commissionerate asking Ganapati mandals to pay Rs1,000 each towards providing meals to police personnel deployed for Ganapati immersion bandobast,” Lamkhede said.“We have seized the pamphlets and a fake Pune police identity card. He was wearing a t-shirt generally worn by trainee police constables. We are probing where he got these from, and where he got the pamphlets printed,” Lamkhede said.According to the police, Bhong was preparing for police recruitment and dreamt of becoming a constable. “On Tuesday, he told his family members he had been assigned bandobast duty in Baner. His maternal uncle dropped him in Baner. Bhong then began approaching Ganapati mandals and demanded money. One or two mandals paid him as well,” Lamkhede added.
