Judge, IAS officer? Man arrested for faking it

Gurgaon, Sep 25: He was a senior civil judge from Telangana, an IAS officer posted at AllMS and sometimes he would offer government jobs. In what seems like a straight out of movie incident, a 29- year old engineer was arrested in Gurgaon after he duped atleast 40 people by faking his identity.

The accused, Kedarnath Sagar Sharma, hailing from Hyderabad would sometimes pose as a senior civil judge from Telangana and at other times he would be an IAS officer posted at AllMS in New Delhi. He promised school admissions, jobs and houses to desperate people and charged a few lakh rupees. Once the payment was done, he would be gone too.

Kedarnath Sagar Sharma used to allegedly take between Rs 3 and Rs 5 lakh for government flats, which he promised he could acquire using as his influence as a "judge on deputation in Gurugram from Telangana". The accused, posing as a judge, had also stayed at the PWD Rest House in the city once, police said.

He'd offer government jobs at AIIMS by posing as an IAS officer posted at the hospital, and the going rate for admission in a Kendriya Vidyalaya was around Rs 40,000. He'd taken such payments from parents of over two dozen students in Delhi, police said, adding that a Delhi-based property dealer had been helping Sharma reach out to parents who were willing to pay to secure admissions for their wards in central government-run schools.

The police are on the lookout for this property dealer.

Sharma spent the money he got by duping people mostly on partying at different locations and on expensive liquor, a police officer privy to the case said, adding that he even bought a second-hand BMW 5 series car, with the registration plate of a senior judge.

A police officer said that since March, Sharma had visited Mumbai and Goa with friends and spent about a month and a half there partying. Last month, he had gone to Thailand with his friends.

The end game for Sharma began after one of the men he took money from promising him a flat under Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category lodged a complaint. An FIR was filed under sector 420 (cheating), 170 ( personating a public servant) of the Indian Penal Code, at Sector 14 Police Station against the accused for cheating a man of Rs 4 lakh.

The police also seized the BMW car, fake seals, fake appointment letters and a fake identity card of a senior civil judge he has been using. "He made the fake identity card himself and then took a printout," assistant commissioner of police Shamsher Singh said.

Later in the day, the accused was taken in for questioning, following which he was arrested and sent to police custody for seven days.

To read more New Delhi news Click Here.