The Azad Maidan police have arrested a man accused of working for the BMC for 28 years on fake documents. The corporation had last month filed a case against the man, who had joined as a gardener in 1993. The imposter, whose real name is Ramesh Maruti Shelar, was arrested from south Mumbai. The police said he has two PANs and as many Aadhaars—one in his own name and the other as per the stolen identity.

Shelar allegedly used photocopies of all the documents of a BMC peon, named Sopan Maruti Sable who joined in 1989, to secure a job in the civic body. His bluff was called only recently following an audit and he was asked to produce original papers. In all these years, he drew salaries of about Rs 43 lakh.  Sources said Shelar has told the police that a person in the Tehsildar's office of Junnar taluka had arranged the forged documents for him. Shelar apparently has told the police that he got the BMC job through a person named Kisan.