close on the heels of a man posing as political advisor to Prime Minister

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

MOHALI: Close on the heels of a man posing as political advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Mohali police have arrested a man posing as an officer on special duty (OSD) to Punjab education minister Upinderjit Kaur.

Context to the story: timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city … 230456.cms

I couldn’t find the phrase ‘‘close on the heels’’ in any of the dictionaries - the closest match was ‘on/upon the heels of’ which means ‘directly behind’, ‘immediately following’. What does it exactly mean and how does it link to rest of the sentence?

Would you please also tell me for what type of official designation OSD is used, and what designation would she/he carry when not on special duty?

Please guide me. Thanks.

2

“Close on the heels of” also means “immediately following”, but even more immediately.

I don’t know for sure what “officer on special duty” means, so you’ll have to ask someone from India. I do think, however, that this person may be on special duty all the time.

3

Thanks, Jamie.

Okay, I get it. But how does it relate to the sentence? Who was “immediately following” the imposture? Obviously, it should be the police. Is this phrase suggesting that the imposture got caught really quickly and wasn’t able to con anyone?

4

They mean, “Close on the heels of the arrest of a man posing as political advisor…”