Grade 8 graduate used fake police uniform to exploit policewomen, made over Rs 2 million

Police have arrested a man, who had only completed eighth grade, for duping around a dozen policewomen by posing as a fake policeman. The accused also extorted over 2 crores from his victims and even married one of the policewomen.

Bareilly (city) Superintendent of Police Rahul Bhati said they arrested the accused from the Satellite bus stand. The accused, who had only completed class 8, claimed that he was posted at the Lucknow ADG office, Bhati said.

Explaining the modus operandi of the accused, Bhati said the suspect would scrape the details of female police officers’ posts from the official police website to identify his potential targets. He would then dupe them by posing as a police officer, sending pictures of himself in police uniform and luring them into marriage.

According to his statement, the accused, identified as Rajan Verma, a resident of Lakhimpur Kheri, has confessed to around eight to 10 incidents. Five cases have been registered against him.

In one case registered at the Bareilly police station, Verma was accused of cheating a policewoman of Rs 30 lakh. Verma also arranged loans for his victims by taking their Aadhaar and PAN cards and contacting a known accomplice in Lucknow.

According to police, a police officer from the Special Operations Group (SOG) in Lakhimpur had earlier cheated Verma by accepting money in exchange for a police job.

When he failed to get into the police force, Verma started living among the police officers and learning about their lifestyle, which led to more frequent interactions with the police. Verma learned how to wear a police uniform, salute and handle a gun. He then lied to a policewoman that he had been enrolled in the police force and married her. After his wife discovered the truth, they separated. He then started cheating other policewomen in the same manner.

When one of his victims, a policewoman from Bareilly, filed a complaint against him at the police station, the police launched an investigation and search operation.

The policewoman testified that after Verma took her documents to apply for a loan for the plot, he fraudulently bought a car on credit. When the amount was debited from the victim’s account, the fake policeman’s secret came to light.