The Case of the two Mr. Tyagis

In September 2020 Jeet Thakur Sahai was called by his friend Prof. Ronit Sehgal at the University of Ghaziabad, India. Prof. Ronit was a professor of Finance and he and his colleagues were hiring an assistant professor at their School of Business at the university. Since Ghaziabad was very close to Delhi he could commute there daily as needed.

Based on the education and experience of the candidates, Prof. Sehgal and the hiring committee decided to hire Kamal Tyagi as the assistant professor. Kamal had to come for an informal interview and then he would be appointed. A letter was sent to Kamal’s Ghaziabad address inviting him to the interview on the morning of September 9th at 10 am. Prof. Sehgal and his colleagues were expecting Kamal to show up but instead two Kamal Tyagis showed up.

They both lived in Ghaziabad, both had degrees from Delhi University and University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, Canada. Prof. Sehgal and his colleagues were able to confirm that the degrees from Delhi University were genuine. They were going to confirm from UBC as well but for some administrative reasons this year UBC was closed till September 16th. When the offices opened then Prof. Sehgal could confirm with them.

As the appointment letter was for September 12th, Prof. Sehgal wanted to find out who the genuine Kamal Tyagi was so that he could be appointed.

It was about 11:30 am on September 9th when Jeet showed up at Prof. Sehgal’s office. Both Mr. Tyagis were there too. Jeet immediately called Inspector Rishi Kamat of the Ghaziabad police. He was coming to Prof. Sehgal’s office in 20 minutes.

Both Mr. Tyagis showed them their study visas to Canada. The visa documents seemed to be genuine and verifying them with the help of the Canadian High Commission, New Delhi, would take some time.

Jeet: “So, both of you have degrees from Canada, correct?”

Kamal # 1: “Yes, I do.”

Kamal # 2: “I do as well.”

Prof. Ronit: “I asked both gentlemen some advanced finance questions in separate rooms and their answers were correct and quite good. They do have a good education in finance but I am not sure about their Ph.D. degrees yet.”

Inspector Rishi arrived with his colleagues. Prof. Ronit told him about the case.

Jeet had visited Canada a few times in the past as his aunt, Savita Singhal, lived with her family in Halifax. He knew quite a lot about Canada.

Jeet: “I would like to ask both gentlemen individually a few basic questions about Canada and then I would let you know secretly what I think.” He said this to Prof. Ronit and Inspector Rishi.

Prof. Ronit and Inspector Rishi agreed.

Jeet and Kamal # 1 went to a room. Jeet closed the door. He asked him a few basic questions that Kamal # 1 answered. His last question was ‘What do you call a two dollar coin in Canada?” Kamal # 1 replied “Double dollar.”

Then Jeet and Kamal # 2 went to a room. Jeet closed the door. He asked him the same basic questions and Kamal # 2 answered. His last question was ‘What do you call a two dollar coin in Canada?” Kamal # 2 replied “Twoonie.”

Jeet then went to Prof. Ronit and Inspector Rishi and talked to them in private in another room. He told them Kamal # 1 seems to be suspicious as he did not know some basic information about Canada. He also said that Kamal # 2 seems to be genuine as he knew some basic information about Canada.

Inspector Rishi arrested Kamal # 1 and told Kamal # 2 that he could not leave Ghaziabad until he received permission from the local police. On September 16th Prof. Ronit was able to verify with UBC authorities that Kamal # 1’s degree from UBC was fake while Kamal # 2’s degree from UBC was genuine. A case against Kamal # 1 would start in two week in the local court. During the court case it was found out that Kamal # 1 had gone to Canada for a student visa but did not study at UBC. Also, he hacked Kamal # 2’s email and was then able to impersonate him to quite an extent. He took advantage of the fact that he had the same name as Kamal # 2.

Eventually Kamal # 2 was appointed as the assistant professor at the University of Ghaziabad.

Prof. Ronit thanked Jeet and Inspector Rishi for their help. Inspector Rishi thanked Jeet. Jeet told them that he was happy to help out.

Jeet returned to his official duties in Delhi shortly afterwards.