52-year-old Delhi man on run for 10 years in cheating cases held in Haridwar

Police found that among the locals, Raj Kumar Sharma posed as an AIIMS Rishikesh doctor and was known in his neighbourhood as ‘Doctor Sahab’

A 52-year-old man on the run since 2015 after cheating several banks and people in Delhi of lakhs of rupees was tracked down to Haridwar in Uttarakhand where he was impersonating a doctor from AIIMS Rishikesh, the Delhi Police said on Friday, adding that he has been arrested.

The accused, Raj Kumar Sharma, was arrested in 2007 and sent to Tihar jail. (Representational image)

The accused, Raj Kumar Sharma, was arrested in 2007 for allegedly cheating nationalised banks by taking vehicle loans on forged documents. He was released from Tihar jail on bail 56 days after his arrest. But in 2015, he sold a plot to two people and issued a cheque for ₹26 lakh that bounced. Police registered an FIR against him and Sharma absconded, said deputy commissioner of police (crime) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav.

“Sharma vacated his north Delhi house overnight and fled to Haridwar, where he impersonated a doctor from AIIMS Rishikesh, and became famous in his neighbourhood as ‘doctor sahab’. An arts graduate from a university in Meghalaya, Sharma never treated any patient or visited AIIMS Rishikesh as a doctor, but used his contacts at the hospital to help Haridwar locals get treatment there,” said DCP Yadav.

Sharing details of the cases against Sharma, the DCP said that Sharma was among six people arrested in 2007 by the special team of the crime branch (now called northern range-1 team) for duping many government banks of lakhs of rupees by taking vehicle loans on forged documents. One car was recovered from Sharma, which he had fraudulently got financed from a bank on forged documents.

“During the trial, Sharma did not appear for the court proceedings and was declared a proclaimed offender (PO) by the court on December 15, 2016,” said Yadav.

While on bail and evading court proceedings, police said, Sharma committed a fraud of ₹14.10 lakh by selling a plot to two people on forged documents. He also issued a check to one of the victims for ₹26 lakh on a private bank account that he had closed several years ago. When the complainant filed a cheating case against him in February 2015, Sharma fled Delhi, changed his identity and settled in Haridwar. He was declared a PO in that case as well, said police.

On Wednesday, the crime branch received information about Sharma’s whereabouts in Haridwar. Accordingly, a team was sent and he was arrested from his Haridwar house on Thursday. Police found that among the locals, Sharma posed as a doctor working at AIIMS, Rishikesh, and was known in his neighbourhood as “Doctor Sahab”, said a senior crime branch officer.

“Sharma said he frequently changed appearances, addresses, and phone numbers to evade arrest. Originally from Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh and after his graduation in Meghalaya, Sharma started publishing monthly magazines and newspapers in Burari in Delhi. He currently has no income source other than his ancestral agricultural income,” added DCP Yadav.