A 29-year-old woman kept police personnel of at least five police stations, including two district chiefs, on their toes for over three hours on Tuesday by posing as a senior Home Ministry official, purportedly checking security arrangements in two South Delhi markets.

Reason: she wanted to shop for free at Sarojini Nagar and Lajpat Nagar markets, the police said.

Her luck finally ran out at the South district Deputy Commissioner of Police’s (DPC) office: it turned out she resides in help’s quarters of an IAS officer in Chanakyapuri and reportedly works as a stenographer in the Home ministry.

On Wednesday, Metropolitan Magistrate S P S Laler sent her to judicial custody till October 16.

According to sources, the woman, identified as Pooja Jindal, went first to DCP (Southeast) Shalini Singh’s office around Tuesday noon. She marched in confidently and told Singh that she was a senior IAS officer from the Home ministry and was out on pre-Diwali inspection to check security arrangements at the two blast-affected markets.

DCP Singh and other senior officers from her district reportedly took the ‘officer’ in her car to Lajpat Nagar market. To prove her ‘seniority, sources said Jindal even chided the officers for inadequate security there. “Then she demanded to be taken to Sarojini Nagar market, which is in south district,” a senior officer said.

The source said DCP Singh took Jindal to Sarojini Nagar police station, where she promptly occupied the Station House Officer’s (SHO) chair. As personnel from other police stations arrived, Jindal asked for DCP (South) H G S Dhaliwal and expressed displeasure at his absence, the source said.

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