RANCHI: A man who had been posing as a senior IAS officer for the past six to seven years has been arrested in Palamu, police said. The accused, identified as 35-year-old Rajesh Kumar, a resident of Kukhi village in the Haidernagar police station area, admitted during interrogation that he had lied to his family and relatives after failing four attempts at the UPSC Civil Services examinations.
According to Hussainabad Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) MD Yakub, Kumar told investigators that it was his father’s dream for him to become an IAS officer. “He attempted the UPSC examination four times but was unsuccessful. Following this, he lied to his father, family members, and relatives, claiming that he had become an Indian Posts and Telegraphs Accounts and Finance Service (IPTAFS) officer, and had been living as a fake officer for the past 6–7 years,” Yakub said.
The matter came to light on January 2 when Kumar walked into the Hussainabad police station seeking the station house officer in connection with a land dispute involving a relative. He introduced himself as a 2014-batch Odisha cadre IAS officer, posted as Chief Accounts Officer in Bhubaneswar. When questioned about his postings in Dehradun, Hyderabad, and Bhubaneswar, he gave contradictory statements and claimed to be an IPTAFS officer, equivalent to an IAS officer, before leaving the station.
Suspicious of his claims, the SDPO conducted preliminary investigations, which revealed that Kumar was not an IPTAFS officer or employed in any government service. When summoned for questioning, he failed to produce any valid documents, including appointment letters, identity cards, or departmental papers, and eventually confessed to impersonating an officer.
During a search of his person and vehicle, police recovered a fake identity card, a fake nameplate, and other suspicious materials, which were seized and sealed. A case has been registered at Hussainabad Police Station under Sections 204, 205, 336(2), 336(3), 337, 339, and 340(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Kumar has been arrested and sent to judicial custody.