BHOPAL: A man who allegedly posed as a 2016-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer and claimed to be working with the Income Tax Department was arrested in Bhopal after fake appointment letters bearing glaring spelling mistakes exposed an alleged job fraud that reportedly cost six civil-service aspirants nearly Rs 8 lakh.
Police said the accused, identified as Rishi Kumar Yadav, 38, hailing from Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh, had been living in Bhopal’s MP Nagar area for about four months.
He claimed to be holding an M.Tech degree from an engineering college in Jhansi only. He allegedly introduced himself as an IPS officer on deputation to the Income Tax Department and claimed to be an Assistant Investigation Officer.
His target was a group of young people preparing for the UPSC examinations.
According to MP Nagar police, Yadav met civil services aspirant Devanshu Verma at a café in Zone-2 in April. He allegedly told Devanshu and five friends that he could secure them jobs in an Income Tax investigation team for Rs 1 lakh each.
He reportedly promised an initial salary of Rs 25,000 during probation, rising to Rs 72,000 after 11 months, when the appointments would become permanent.
When some of the aspirants struggled to arrange the money, police said, Yadav allegedly encouraged them to take loans, assuring them that the repayments could be made from their future salaries.
As per the MP Nagar police, the six aspirants eventually paid him in instalments. Yadav allegedly continued demanding smaller sums for travel, food, outings and other expenses, taking the total amount to around Rs 8 lakh.
To reinforce his alleged deception, police said he created a fake official identity card using a mobile phone and MS Office after downloading an old card from the internet. He also allegedly claimed that his wife was an IPS officer posted with the Delhi Excise Department, although police said she is actually a homemaker.
The elaborate deception began to collapse in July, when Yadav allegedly sent appointment letters to three of the aspirants. The documents raised immediate suspicion.
Instead of the correct Mayur Bhawan address, the letters reportedly mentioned “Mayur Vihar”. Other words, including “Connaught Place”, “Privilege”, “Offered” and “Chhattisgarh”, were also allegedly misspelled.
Mayur Bhawan at Connaught Circus, New Delhi, importantly, houses official offices of the Income Tax Department and administrative divisions of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).
For UPSC aspirants accustomed to scrutinising official documents, the errors proved decisive.
The youths investigated the letters and approached the police, leading investigators to Yadav, who was arrested from MP Nagar.
“The conman had cheated six youths in the name of jobs and had extorted around eight lakh rupees from them. The police arrested the accused and sent him to jail. No previous record of his was found,” Bhopal’s MP Nagar Police Station in-charge Jaihind Sharma said.
Investigators are also examining whether others were involved and whether Yadav allegedly targeted job seekers beyond Bhopal.