BENGALURU: A diploma holder, R Srinivas (34), a resident of Maruthi Nagar in Chandra Layout, who posed as an IPS officer and cheated a businessman of Rs 1.75 crore has been arrested by the Thalaghattapura police.
The police said Venkatnarayan, a used car dealer, filed a complaint alleging that he came in contact with Srinivas through a friend and Srinivas introduced himself as an IPS officer working as an ASP in Bengaluru South division, in June last year.
The conman claimed that he was handling a litigation property case in Mysuru which would fetch him Rs 250 crore and for the same he needed Rs. 2.5 crore. The complainant gave him Rs. 49 lakh which the accused returned in December and asked for more money.
To gain the complainant’s trust, Srinivas had also taken him to his fiancee Ramya’s house for a pooja.
“The complainant arranged Rs. 1.20 crore from a hotelier and another Rs. 56 lakh from his friends and gave it to the accused, after which Srinivas switched off his phone and went incommunicado. The victim tried to contact Ramya, whose phone was also switched off. Realising that he was cheated, he approached the police. Based on his complaint, the fake officer was arrested,” the police said.
Investigations revealed that the accused was inspired by watching characters of police officers in movies and started imitating them. “He got a police uniform and created a fake ID card as an IPS officer.
He hired SUVs and went to meet people wearing the police uniform so that they would not suspect him.
He also interacted with police staff and took photographs with them but nobody suspected his credentials as he claimed to be a senior officer,” the police said, adding that he took to cheating people to make easy and fast money to lead a lavish life, buy luxury bikes and spend on his girlfriend Ramya. It was found that he was arrested by the Vijayanagar police in connection with a car theft case in 2010 and he was released on bail, the police said.