The son of a person who claims to have been a public relations officer for all Gujarat chief ministers since 2000, including Narendra Modi, accompanied an alleged conman who posed as a PMO official and wangled privileges at government expense during their trips to Kashmir, it has emerged.

Kiran Patel, the suspected conman who claimed he was additional director (strategy and campaigns) in the PMO, is in custody but Jammu and Kashmir police mysteriously allowed his two associates, Amit Pandya and Jay Sitapara from Gujarat, to leave the Union territory.

The three were picked up by the police during a raid at a five-star hotel in Srinagar on March 3, Kiran’s lawyer Rehaan Gowhar said. But it was kept under wraps till last Friday. Amit and Jay have been called back to the Valley by the police for questioning.

Amit is the son of Hitesh Pandya, a journalist turned politician who said he was PRO to five Gujarat chief ministers. Hitesh’s social media bio says he is PRO to current Gujarat chief minister Bhupendrabhai Patel and a media consultant for the government. The header image on an unverified Twitter account bearing Hitesh’s name shows him near a person resembling Modi.

Hitesh told The Telegraph on Monday: “He (his son Amit) had returned to Gujarat but is in the Valley right now.”

“He (Amit) was not summoned (by the J&K police) but they requested him to come back (for questioning). I have full faith in him that he is not involved in any wrongdoing,” Hitesh added. Hitesh acknowledged that his son was accompanying Kiran but said he was not part of any “official PMO team”. “He had gone there for some business-related work,” Hitesh said. Hitesh said he was serving as the PRO of the incumbent Gujarat chief minister. He said he had also served as PRO for four previous chief ministers -- the late Keshubhai Patel, Narendra Modi, Anandiben Patel and Vijaybhai Rupani.

The profile bio on Hitesh’s purported Twitter account reads: “A media person in different roles from 1977 to 2000 with a Gujarati Media, Since 2001 PRO to CMGUJARAT: Ex ABVP; Ex BJP Intellectual Cell State Prez, Tweets personl.” The police are silent why Kiran was singled out for arrest while the other two were allowed to go. Sources claimed the trio had taken the administration for a ride, enjoying Z-plus security and official accommodation at a five-star hotel in Srinagar.

Gowhar, Kiran’s lawyer, said: “The three were together at the hotel. My client was arrested but the two others were allowed to go. I do not know why.” Kashmir police chief Vijay Kumar on Sunday denied any intelligence failure but said the “negligence of a field officer” had resulted in the goofup. He said nobody would be spared. Kiran has a verified Twitter account under the name of Dr Kiran J. Patel and has a few thousand followers.

His Twitter bio claims he has a PhD from Commonwealth University, Virginia, an MBA from IIM Trichy, an MTech in computer science and a BE in computer engineering. Kiran further describes himself as a “thinker, strategist, analyst and campaign manager”. J&K police have described him as a “fraudster”.