Man posing as IAS officer for 7 years arrested over land deal in Palamu

Ranchi: After failing to clear UPSC civil services examination four times, 35-year-old Rajesh Kumar was living with fake identity of being an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and senior official of Indian P&T Accounts and Finance Service (IPTAFS) for the past seven years to convince his family of having fulfilled their dream of becoming central govt officer.On Saturday, however, his seven-year-old fake identity was busted by Palamu police after an interrogation. Fake identity cards, a phone, and a car with a board fixed on it, were seized.“The police got suspicious when Rajesh approached Hussainabad police station on Friday posing as 2014 batch IAS officer of Odisha cadre to mediate in a land deal. When the station in-charge inquired about his posting, he stated that he has worked in Dehradun, Hyderabad and Bhubaneswar. When questioned about postings in different states which raised suspicion, he changed his statement and claimed to be an IPTAFS (Indian P&T Accounts and Finance Service) officer, selected by UPSC. After this, he left the police station,” a statement issued by Palamu police said.The station in-charge conveyed the information to Hussainabad sub-divisional police officer (SDPO). When preliminary probe showed that he was not an IPTAFS officer, the cops summoned Rajesh to the police station and sought his identity card, appointment letter and other documents, which he failed to produce.“During questioning, Rajesh admitted to roaming around posing as a fake IPTAFS officer. Rajesh said his father wanted him to become an IAS officer. After failing in four attempts to clear the UPSC examination, Rajesh lied to his father, family members and relatives that he has become an IPTAFS officer and had been living as a fake officer since,” the statement read.A case has been registered under sections 204, 205, 336(2), /336(3), 337, 339 and 340(2) BNS against the accused person with the local police station.