PATNA: A man posing as an IAS officer and allegedly claiming to be an "undercover agent" of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval has been arrested under Gogri police station limits in Bihar's Khagaria district, with police claiming to have unearthed assets worth more than Rs 100 crore linked to him.
The accused, identified as Manish Kumar Gupta alias Chikku, was arrested after a joint team of the district investigation unit (DIU) and Gogri police raided his premises at Jamalpur Bazar for nearly seven-and-a-half hours on Saturday.
Police said Gupta allegedly used his fake IAS identity and claimed links with the NSA to dupe people in several districts of the state. He allegedly displayed "IAS" and "Government of India" sign boards on his private luxury vehicles to lend credibility to his claims.
Two luxury vehicles were seized during the raid. Both reportedly carried "Government of India" markings. The police are now verifying the ownership documents and the authenticity of the government credentials displayed on the vehicles.
"The search also led to the recovery of around 31 litres of foreign liquor, including a bottle allegedly valued at more than Rs 1 lakh", a member of the raiding team said, adding that a separate case under the Excise and Prohibition Act has been registered against him.
During the search, officials were stunned to find deer and Barasingha antlers. In addition, five Apple mobile phones, 20 credit cards, eight debit cards, four cheque books and other documents were also recovered from the premises.
Khagaria Superintendent of Police (SP) Bhanu Pratap Singh said Gupta had been portraying himself as a “cover agent” of Doval and had allegedly been impersonating an IAS officer for a considerable period. “Efforts are on to ascertain his antecedents,” he added.
Police are now probing the source of Gupta’s alleged wealth, his properties and vehicles, and the documents and government identifiers recovered during the raid. The authenticity of the seized vehicles’ government markings is also being verified.
The district police have sought the cooperation of the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of the state police to ascertain the assets accumulated by Gupta through unlawful means. The luxury cars have been seized and parked in the Gogri police station premises.
Arvind Kumar, station house officer (SHO) of Gogri police station, said, “An FIR has been registered naming Manish Gupta. “The police are examining the recovered documents, cards and CCTV footage to ascertain the purpose for which official identity was being used by Gupta,” he added.
