NEW DELHI: A 28-year-old man was recently apprehended for impersonating a lieutenant colonel in the Army and defrauding a family of more than Rs 8 lakh by promising them government jobs, as per an official report released on Wednesday.
The suspect, identified as Sumit Singh, a resident of Delhi’s Uttam Nagar, went to great lengths to deceive his victims. He forged fake Army documents, wore a Lieutenant Colonel’s uniform, and utilized badges and rubber stamps to mislead them. Singh has a history of engaging in similar fraudulent activities in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, with cases reported in Lucknow and Hardoi.
Originally hailing from Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur, Singh allegedly acquired a canteen card and issued counterfeit recruitment letters under the Ministry of Defence.
His most recent victim, a 30-year-old female lawyer, lodged a complaint with the Gulabi Bagh Police Station. She claimed that Singh posed as a high-ranking Army official in July 2024 and assured her a legal position in the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT). He also made similar job offers to her brother and father, extorting substantial sums of money under the pretense of recruitment procedures.
Singh demanded payment for application fees, mess charges, uniform kits, and other expenses, amounting to over Rs 8 lakh in cash from the victim and her family. Furthermore, he acquired a mobile phone valued at Rs 1.6 lakh from the complainant through deceptive means.
In his intricate scheme, Singh fabricated recruitment letters, assumed a false identity, and even coerced the complainant into marriage. The deception was unraveled when the victims conducted a thorough verification of his claims and uncovered inconsistencies in the documents he provided.
The police successfully tracked down Singh to a rented accommodation in Bindapur and promptly arrested him. During the interrogation, Singh admitted to his crimes, as confirmed by the officer in charge.
Among the recovered items were two counterfeit Indian Army rubber stamps, a military uniform adorned with four Lieutenant Colonel badges, a canteen card, three forged recruitment letters, and a motorcycle purchased with the ill-gotten funds, according to the officer.
The investigation into this case is ongoing, with the officer stating that further inquiries are being conducted.
