A 44-year-old PhD degree holder and former college professor was arrested from west Delhi's Karol Bagh for cheating people by impersonating as an IPS officer, officials said Thursday.
Accused Satheesh Nair, a resident of Kochi in Kerala, was arrested by Delhi Police Tuesday on a tip-off. A uniform of an IPS officer along with a wireless set was recovered from him. Nair stayed at Hotel Rama in Karol Bagh, and was heading to his hotel when he was arrested.
"Following a complaint made by mobile shop owner Kultar Singh on Feb 23, we laid a trap and arrested Nair," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav.
"The accused had cheated the complainant to the tune of Rs.1.65 lakh," added Yadav.
"First time, Nair met the complainant in Karol Bagh's Gaffar Market at his shop Jan 30 and introduced himself as an IPS officer from Jaipur. He even showed an identity card to convince him," Yadav said.
"He told Singh that his next posting would be in Delhi soon and purchased two mobile phones in exchange for two old ones. In this next meeting, Nair induced Singh in parting with two more mobile phones and Rs.1 lakh cash on the pretext that his ATM card was not functional," Yadav added.
Singh had then obliged him believing that Nair was a genuine officer. However, on his next visit to Delhi, the complainant met Nair at the hotel, when he got suspicious about Nair's identity and informed the police.
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Nair, who completed his M.Tech and PhD in computer science from Anna University in Chennai, also worked as an assistant professor at the Jayaram College of Engineering and Technology in Hyderabad. He has also worked as a senior reader at Madanapalle Institute of Technology and Science in Odisha. In February 2014, he met with an accident that confined him to bed for over five months, following which he lost his job.
"Nair had an old and insatiable quirk to become an IPS officer and he utilised this as an opportunity to become an imposter for earning a living. He got the uniform stitched from a Jaipur-based tailor," Yadav said.
"Our efforts are on to identify as to how many people he has cheated," Yadav added.