With curtain yet to be drawn on the Ruby Choudhary case, a 31-year -old youth, Romi Mahendru, native of lucknow, attempted to get into the campus of India’s premier academy — lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (lBSNAA) on Monday, claiming himself to be an IFS (Indian Foreign Service) officer directly appointed by the President of India. The academy officials handed Mahendru over to Mussoorie police. He was grilled by local police and local intelligence unit personnel regarding the motive of the attempted entry.
The timing of the attempt coincides with the Civil Service exam pass-outs approaching the institute based in Mussoorie for training. However, alert in the wake of the infamous Ruby Choudhary episode, the academy officials aborted the attempt. Those selected in the list as released by DoPT are being allowed to get past the main gate of the institute.
A Mussoorie police official said that Mahendru had reached the academy gate on late Sunday night (10.30 pm) and asked officials whether they had received a fax confirming his appointment as an IFS officer from DoPT (UPSC) office. He stated he had been appointed by the President. The academy officials went through the list and with his name not figuring in it, asked Mahendru sternly to return home. Undaunted, he again reached the academy gate (at 11 am) on Monday and approached the officials by stating the same. This time, however, the academy officials acted swiftly and informed local police. The police officials reached and brought the accused to police station for questioning. The accused was grilled and it was revealed that he might have been suffering from some mental problems, said a police official, adding that his frustration with having failed to get a job befitting his qualification might have sent him into delusion.
Mahendru informed police that he had completed his schooling from CMS, lucknow in 2002, BBA from IMS University in 2005 and MBA from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune in 2007. He worked in various private companies between 2007 and 2012. His father Rajendra Kumar Mahendru, native of Gazipur, lucknow, died in 2012 and since then he had been living in his ancestral house. He reached Dehradun by Upasana Express around 6.30 pm and reached Mussoorie around 10.00 pm on Sunday. He approached the academy officials around 10.30 pm on Sunday and 11 am on Monday.
While being questioned, he again repeated what he had told the academy officials at the main entrance that he was the President’s appointee. Police contacted his family members. According to family, Mahendru had gone to Mussoorie to enroll in the academy. The intelligence officials also interrogated the accused.