Posing as IPL player, 24-yr-old dupes aspiring cricketer, her friend of ₹13 lakh

The accused, Gagan Sharma, promised to get one of the women enrolled in a Ranji team, and promised the other woman a job with SBI, the police said.

The Delhi Police has arrested a 24-year-old man who posed as a player with an Indian Premier League (IPL) team and duped an aspiring woman cricketer and her friend of ₹13 lakh, officers aware of the case said on Tuesday. They said the man, identified as Gagan Sharma, promised to get one of the women enrolled in a Ranji team, and promised the other woman a job with the State Bank of India.

24-yr-old poses as IPL player, dupes two Delhi women of ₹13 lakh

To pass himself off as a man with clout, Sharma also claimed that his sister was a high court judge, that his father a station house officer (SHO) with the Delhi Police, claimed his uncle was a director with the SBI, said Amrutha Guguloth, deputy commissioner of police (east).

Police said Sharma, originally from Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh, used to coach children playing cricket.

According to the first information report (FIR), Sharma came across the two women in April last year. When he found out that one of the women aspired to play cricket professionally, he offered to get her enrolled in a Ranji team and find her a sponsor, the DCP said.

To her friend, who worked for a private bank, Sharma allegedly promised a job with the SBI, police said.

“Sharma told them that he was a player with the Rajasthan Royals IPL team, and showed them pictures of him wearing the team jersey,” said the DCP.

Over the next few months, Sharma allegedly conned the women and took ₹13 lakh from them on various pretexts, the DCP said.

He gave the first woman a cheque and letter of sponsorship from a sports company, both of which were forged. “He also gave the other woman a forged appointment letter for SBI’s Mandi House branch in Delhi,” the DCP said.

Thereafter, multiple raids were conducted to arrest the suspect. “Finally on Saturday, our technical surveillance led to his arrest from a mall in Nirman Vihar,” the officer said.